Ndilitshandje Hilya Ininga 
       & Ben Mulongeni

Work experience, managerial skills, academic qualifications, personal achievements and business success are some of the attributes that every person should have if they are to attract a lucrative assignment  or well-paying job.
Naturally, anyone can acquire good education that money can buy, but good money cannot buy leadership quality or business acumen.

 In life, particularly in a democracy, a born leader without good education can still go far,  but education without leadership qualities is a disaster. Leadership is about wisdom, while education provides knowledge, hence a successful leader needs the combination of these two.

Leonard Sunday Negonga is a blessed man. He has  all those qualities and skills that a good leader needs in our modern society.  Negonga is the Swapo candidate for the political office-councillorship for the Ondangwa Urban Constituency.
Ronny  Negonga is a product  and graduate of South Africa’s University of Fort Hare, one of the best universities in Africa, where many leaders were educated, including  the iconic Nelson Mandela and legendary  Robert Mugabe. 
Majoring in sociology and phycology, he became a qualified social worker. 

 Ronny was a co- founder of the social service at Onandjokwe hospital where he worked alone for three years until he was promoted to establish a regional social service division at the town of Tsumeb, catering for the whole of Oshikoto Region.
In 2001 he started his own business of chicken farming, producing eggs and it was the only business of that kind  in the North back then, promoting food security.  Six month later the same year, he saw the opportunity in  the industry of tourism and established a lodge which he named Ondangwa Town Lodge. 

In those days there was only one lodge in Ondangwa, called Cresta Lodge. In addition, Ronny is also a successful commercial farmer. In total, 35 men and women are employed at Ronny’s business establishments. He joined Swapo at the age of 14 in Ondangwa as a pioneer and his political mentors were legendary leaders such as John Ya  Otto (Gwaniipupu) and Johannes Nangutuwala, who were operating  from Ondangwa.   
In 2004  he was elected Swapo  councillor at Ondangwa Town Council and was chairman of  the town’s  management  committee until 2010.

Between 2010 and 2015 he served as mayor of Ondangwa. 
During his leadership and management of Ondangwa Town Council, the town achieved the following developments and successes, namely the renovation and expansion of Ondangwa main road from Oluno to Olunkono, construction of robots and traffic lights, servicing of land, construction of houses by Namib Bou at Ondangwa, establishment of the trade expo centre, increasing the number of residential extensions from four (now we have 38 with electricity), water and roads, initiated the new  doctrine of  tarring roads from one to two km per year, and the construction of malls and business complexes.

He also laid a foundation for Ondangwa to now have over 10 accommodation facilities, creating  jobs  and revenue to the town council. Ondangwa had  only two banks those days,  now we have four main banks and many cash loans. Oluno clinic has been upgraded  into a health centre, and there are three hospitals and many doctor consulting rooms as well as eight pharmacies at the town. The list is endless.

Ronny’s vision and future plans are focused on three main sectors, namely industrialization, housing and food security.
With regards to housing, Ronny says he will engage the traditional leaders and headmen to avail land that will be allocated properly to individuals, to avoid unplanned erection of illegal houses and sheebens. 

On food security, he appeals to people to produce food. He is aware of existing old earth dams and wells  that are not being used. He plans to have them revamped and fenced off. 

Ronny, the Swapo candidate in next month’s by-election for councillor of Ondangwa Urban Constituency, is aware of challenges and limitations that one may face during the implementations of the desired projects, but he is not the one-man-show kind of leader. 

He will subject himself to the Swapo Party development programs such as our election manifestos,  the government development plans (NDPs), Harambee Prosperity Plan, Namibia’s second national land conference resolutions and Vision 2030 document.

It is these kinds of experiences, knowledge and successes that will separate men from boys and women from girls, come June 15.