Omaruru, Henties Bay, and Arandis councillors did not attend the Independence Day celebrations at Katima Mulilo in their official capacities after the Erongo Governor withheld their VIP tickets.

Erongo Governor Neville Andre says the councillors must first address community issues in their towns before attending celebrations.

The Independence Day organising committee gave 50 VIP tickets for each region to send their public office bearers to the national celebrations.

However, the Erongo Governor has excluded leaders from Omaruru, Henties Bay, and Arandis.

In the past few weeks, residents in the three towns have put the town councils under pressure as they make demands for land delivery and improved services.

"There are a number of community issues that have not been resolved; the communities wrote to me, and there were also some demonstrations in some of those towns, so it's important for me to decide that they should first sit down and address the issues that are not resolved with the communities. Instead of going to the independence celebration, we need to serve our people, and we need to be there for them," said Andre.