Some residents who reside in the Windhoek Rural Constituency have threatened to unleash dogs on Census enumerators who do not speak the indigenous languages of the people in those areas.
Windhoek Rural Constituency Councillor, Piet Adams, called a press conference today where he, together with those who did not make the cut, decried the selection process of shortlisted candidates in the constituency. The allegations include the term tribalism, which the government and those with authority warn against.
Windhoek rural constituency councillor Piet Adams says his constituency is unlike the rest, saying the dynamics and the cultural and tribal diversity are unique. Therefore, Adams says he deems it interesting that out of about 170 shortlisted candidates for the upcoming National Population and Housing Census, about 150 are from one ethnic group.
“It clearly defies the sense of logic that in an area where residents predominantly consist of Khoe-Khoe and Afrikaans-speaking people, apart from Mix, it is quite disturbing to see that out of 177, almost 155 shortlisted candidates belong to one ethnic group. Then you expect me to remain silent, but unfortunately this time my soul does not allow me to remain silent.”
Elmarie |Awases is a resident of Stinkwater, which is also demarcated in the jurisdiction of Windhoek Rural. She claims to have all the necessary documents that were required by the Namibia Statistics Agency.
|Awases is also a trained sign language interpreter.
“There are qualified and experienced people in this constituency; they have tried; we applied, but now that the list is out, no one from this area has been shortlisted; how is that possible?” Like her, many in the constituency are unhappy.
Statistician General Alex Shimwafeni, when contacted for comment by nbc News, said he is not aware which ethnic group the Windhoek Rural Constituency Councillor is referring to. Shimwafeni says one of the application criteria was for applicants to show proof of residence, which was one of the aspects considered when the appointments were made.
The Namibia Statistics Agency received over 100,000 applications for 13,000 jobs.
Leave a Reply