Larandja leads capital
“Let’s get to work.”This according to Ndeshafela Larandja, a councillor for the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), during her acceptance speech as Windhoek’s new mayor on Tuesday evening.
She highlighted the capital’s beauty and tourism potential, as well as the challenges such as access to sanitation and clean water for many Windhoek communities.
“These issues affect not only the health of our residents, but also the image and potential of the City of Windhoek as a tourism destination. Addressing these fundamentals is not only a moral responsibility, but a critical step in realising our vision for a thriving city that attracts visitors, while providing dignity and opportunities for all who live here,” Larandja said.
The city council elected Windhoek’s new leadership on Tuesday.
Magistrate Immanuel Sumo Udjombala continued the election process after Larandja and Swapo councillor Austin Kwenani were both nominated and seconded for the position. Larandja won by nine votes to three.
Carolina Hanases of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) was elected deputy mayor unopposed. Ilse Keister of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR), Fransina Kahungu of Swapo, Bernardus Araeb of the IPC, Joseph Uapingana of the National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) and Jürgen Hecht of the IPC were elected to the management committee.
Former mayor and Swapo councillor Queen Kamati also contested for a seat on the management committee. However, she could only win four votes, compared to the nine, ten and eleven votes received by the other candidates.
Keister was elected chairperson of the management committee by her fellow councillors.
Tuesday’s election was the third time that the city council tried to elect new leadership, after councillors walked out on 2 December last year when Udjombala rejected their request for a postponement.
Later that month, there were not enough councillors present at the second attempt to form a quorum.
Of the 15 city councillors, 12 were present in the Windhoek city council chamber on Tuesday. – [email protected]