The last council meeting of the year of the Grootfontein municipality ended in drama after outgoing management committee chairperson Jack Tsanigab fled with a ministerial audit report. 
Attempts by mayor Abisai Shondati Haimene to pursue Tsanigab through the municipal corridors proved futile as the councillor managed to flee after boarding a taxi.

The ministerial report is reportedly a damning one and contains information following an investigation that was launched by the urban and rural development ministry following allegations of corruption, nepotism, dubious land dealings and mismanagement at the controversial municipality.

A number of sources, including CEO Kisco Sinvula, confirmed the jaw-dropping scandal which unfolded on Wednesday afternoon.

“You should have seen how the two were chasing down the corridors. Something must be really fishy among those two. It was so dramatic and never seen before. The meeting had to be adjourned after that because of the whole commotion, thus none of the other councillors got the opportunity to peruse the document,” a councillor who requested anonymity told New Era.

The council meeting had to be adjourned as a result.
Contacted for comment, Haimene said he was in the bank and unable to talk.
Attempts to reach him later also proved futile as his phone went unanswered.
Tsanigab was also not reachable yesterday.

It is alleged Tsanigab fled with the report because it was presented to council at the last minute, claiming he did not have sufficient time to acquaint himself with the contents. 
“Chaos ensued while the meeting was in progress, as the outgoing mayor was tabling the report at the last minute and didn’t want other councillors to have copies. He (Haimene) received the report in October but held onto it until the last minute,” said Sinvula.

Some at the council claimed the delay in tabling the report was a ploy to only have it presented after the regional council and local authority elections that took place last week.
According to the sources Haimene was the only councillor at the town familiar with the contents of the audit report. 
Both Tsanigab and Haimene no longer feature on the council after new councillors were sworn in yesterday.
“I will table the report with the new council. For now, we have taken all other documents and locked them in the safe,” said Sinvula.

He added that once the report is tabled it will be at disposal for public consumption.
Tsanigab has a pending case for which he was arrested in August by the Anti-Corruption Commission and charged with corruption, fraud and forgery.  

It is alleged he provided false documents to an agent and misled the Grootfontein municipal council over a Build Together land project dating back to 2012. 
Tsanigab allegedly got the plot under the guise it was for a family member while in essence it was for himself. 

– osimasiku@nepc.com.na 

Jack Tsanigab