Hertta- Maria Amutenja
The Kunene Regional Council’s Chief Development Planner is involved in a legal battle with the council over the position of Deputy Director.
Inodimbwa Namwoonde alleges that the council’s decision to reject his appointment was unlawful since it was based on unrelated factors and ulterior motives.
He claims that the Public Service Commission’s recommendation and advice that the council appoint him as the Deputy Director of the Directorate of Planning and Development Services has been rejected.
A founding affidavit submitted to the Windhoek High Court in May this year states that the council posted job advertisements for the position in March and again in May, with a June 2020 deadline.
According to the affidavit, only 25 candidates were chosen from 145 applications for a written test. He and 16 other applicants took the required test.
Namwoonde was one of five applicants who passed the test and went through the interview process.
Namwoonde claims to have scored the highest overall, with Hileni Stefanus coming in second.
The Public Service Commission advised that Stefanus, the second highest scorer, be appointed in April 2021 after the interview in March 2021. However, she was appointed to the same position at the Zambezi Regional Council and began working there on 1 June 2021.
The commission then reversed its decision and decided to recommend Namwoonde who received the highest scores.
He claims that despite the commission’s recommendation, the council disapproved of it because it felt it had not been given a chance to be heard and because of the financial crisis, lack of capital projects, and budget cuts.
“The financial position taken is inconsistent with the verification by the Chief Regional Officer of the Council George Kamseb which indicates that the position has been budgeted for,” Namwoonde proclaimed.
The documents further reveal that between 7 and 14 September 2022, Namwoonde’s legal representative from Sisa Namandje & Co. Inc wrote letters to the council and Kamseb asking the two parties to clarify the issue.
His legal representative, Sisa Namandje then advised him to give an opportunity until January 2022 however the council was uncooperative hence the application was only filed at the court this year.
“During January 2022 I was asked by my legal practitioner, seeing that the council is not cooperating, to place them in funds in a certain amount. As I was not having funds at the moment, I set out to secure the amount requested by my legal practitioner and was only able to obtain such an amount on 25 April 2023. I immediately made a deposit into my legal practitioner’s trust account on 26 April 2023 to enable them to prepare this application,” stated Namwoonde.
Namwoonde is citing the council, Chief Regional Councilor and the Public Service Commission as the first to third respondents.
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