The ||Kharas Regional Council has dismissed three councillors representing the Swapo Party, just a month after their court-ordered reinstatement following a lengthy legal battle.

The councillors—Lazarus Nangolo, Taimi Amakali, and Suzan Ndjaleka—were dismissed after a vote of no confidence initiated by LPM representative Willem Labuscange, who accused them of dishonesty.

Joseph Isaack, chairperson of the ||Kharas Regional Council, alleged that the Swapo councillors 

demanded reimbursement of their salaries after their reinstatement, despite having received 

salaries from the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development while their case was still pending.

Nangolo, one of the dismissed councillors, stated that the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development paid them salaries on November 7 of last year, following a Cabinet decision.

This payment came after they had gone without salaries for four months and sought the ministry's intervention.

Nangolo claims that the Council only paid their salaries for July and August. 

He argued that the payment from the ministry was made to avoid contempt of court for failing to comply with the order to reinstate them and reimburse their salaries.

“The ||Kharas Regional Council was supposed to pay other amounts for the remaining months, which the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development was already covering. When they learned this, they questioned, ‘Why does the ministry have to pay these people?’ But the ministry acted after the High Court's decision. They then decided to initiate a vote of no confidence against the three councillors.”

The ||Kharas Regional Council chairperson countered Nangolo's claims, stating that the management committee's functions had been delegated to the ordinary council through a resolution. He maintained that the motion of no confidence did not require a secondment.

“I asked, since we now have an opposing motion, if we could have a secondment for it. If this opposing motion does not receive a secondment, then the chairman has the authority, under Rule 12 (1d), to reject that motion.”

Isaack explained that after three attempts, no secondment to oppose the motion of no confidence was received.

During a media conference, Swapo Party Regional Coordinator Mathew Mumbala condemned the councillors' dismissal and called for intervention from the Minister of Urban and Rural Development.

Councillor Nangolo described the motion of no confidence as unlawful, arguing that the Council's chairperson accepted it unilaterally without a secondment.

He also noted that such a motion could only be initiated within a management committee, which is currently non-functional.

Additionally, Nangolo emphasized that the motion could only be invoked against either the committee chairperson or an ordinary member.