The City of Windhoek Council has clashed with the management committee (MC) over the recruitment of a Chief Executive Officer.
The capital city has been operating without a substantive CEO for almost two years following the resignation of Robert Kahimise in 2020.
Ndeshihafela Larandja, the management committee’s chairperson, threw a cat among the pigeons when she said her committee has the authority to restart the recruitment process if it has reason to believe that the recruitment process was not transparent.
She added the committee discovered irregularities in the process, such as incorrectly counting the number of candidates who applied, the published advertisement not complying with regulations, and the former acting CEO, George Mayumbelo, being shortlisted.
However, Windhoek Mayor Sade Gawanes said only the council has the authority to make a final decision on the recruitment process as per Section 27(1), read together with Regulation 31 of the Recruitment and Selection Regulation.
“As the matter stands currently stands, the Management Committee is usurping powers which as a sub-committee, it does not have in law. Therefore, it could be overstepping its powers. Considering how far the recruitment process went, Management Committee cannot terminate the process without the approval of Council and cannot and will not enforce and bully the Council.
“The regulation empowers the Management Committee to only make such recommendations and cite their reasons as espoused in their resolution which was provided to the ACEO. Those Management Committee Resolutions must be a recommendation of the Management Committee, to Council,” she said.
Consequently, the recruitment process is in limbo as the matter is before Council to, “be dealt with in terms of principles of legality, rationality, reasonableness, and justifiability” until such time that Council pronounces itself, “the Management Committee will not force the process to restart, and Council will ensure due diligence,” said Gawanes.
The city had recommended Moses Matyayi, the current CEO of Otjiwarongo Municipality, and Conrad Lutombi, the CEO of the Roads Authority, as the top two candidates for the CEO position.
Matyayi and Lutombi were shortlisted for the position alongside Joyce Mukubi, Deputy Executive Director at the Ministry of Works and Transport, Eino Mvula, Chief Business Unit Executive at NamWater, and Charmill Zamuee, a researcher.
After 59 candidates applied unsuccessfully for the job, the candidates publicly presented their motivations in September 2021.
Since November 2020, the position has been rotated among various city leaders, beginning with George Mayumbelo.
Then, in November 2021, CoW appointed Jennifer Comalie, its Strategic Executive for Finance and Customer Service, as its new Acting CEO for three months.
In May 2022, she was succeeded by the current acting CEO, O’Brien Hekandjo.
