Karasburg mayor Maria Veldskoen, the chairperson of the management committee, Franciskus Skeyer, and the town’s acting chief executive, Hansina Isaak, were released on bail of N$1 000 each on Saturday.
The councillors of the Karasburg Town Council and an official were arrested last Monday under the Anti-Corruption Act for allegedly using their office for personal gratification and conspiring to commit offences.
The formal bail hearing was on Friday postponed to Saturday due to state prosecutor Ester Jafet’s ill health.
The state strongly opposed bail, but could not provide sufficient grounds for this.
Defence lawyer Hassan Engelbrecht applied for the case to be struck from the court roll and for all charges to be dismissed.
However, magistrate Samingo Kasaone granted the accused bail in an amount of N$1 000 each, and postponed the case to 31 October for further investigation.
Three weeks ago, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) descended on the Karasburg Town Council in a wide-ranging investigation into the affairs of the local authority.
The ACC’s investigation came five days after minister of urban and rural development Erastus Uutoni wrote a letter to Veldskoen in which he directed her and the council to reverse a number of decisions and actions he termed “unprocedural”.
Uutoni, as custodian of local authorities, said the council was disregarding the laws and rules governing local authorities.
These included the appointment of Isaaks from Keetmanshoop, as well as the appointment of Kallie Goliath as personal assistant to Veldskoen, which is not provided for in council structures.
Uutoni accused councillors of changing the signatory powers of the council’s bank accounts, which, he said, is in direct violation of local authority councillors’ code of conduct.
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