Allexer Namundjembo
Okahandja community activist Shatyohamba Haihambo has accused Rural and Urban Development Minister James Sankwasa of being politically biased and selectively critical.
He said Sankwasa ignored the town’s worsening sanitation problems during his recent visit.
Haihambo said that while he appreciates Sankwasa’s “radical approach,” his comments often appear politically motivated and inconsistent.
According to him, Sankwasa met privately with the Okahandja Town Council before addressing a community meeting but made no mention of the town’s deteriorating conditions.
“Okahandja is currently the dirtiest town in Namibia, under a Swapo mayor. Yet the same Sankwasa who never misses a chance to attack opposition-led towns like Walvis Bay and Windhoek suddenly went quiet here,” Haihambo told the Windhoek Observer this week.
He described the minister’s silence as “nothing but political theater,” accusing him of hypocrisy for criticising only opposition-led municipalities while ignoring problems in Swapo-controlled towns.
“When he is in Walvis Bay or Windhoek, he shouts about corruption, mismanagement and dirt. But when it comes to Okahandja, where rubbish piles up at every street corner and dumpsites grow like mushrooms, he pretends not to see anything,” Haihambo said.
He described the town as “decaying daily, with dark streets, fading roads, and overflowing dumpsites,” urging Sankwasa to “first speak truth in Swapo-controlled towns before lecturing others.”
Photographs shared by Haihambo show uncollected waste and growing landfills in several neighbourhoods.
Sankwasa’s apparent silence in Okahandja contrasts with his earlier comments about other towns.
In August, he told The Namibian that Ondangwa was “very dirty and unattractive,” accusing the local authority of poor maintenance and allowing refuse and sewage to spill into the streets.
Last week Sankwasa called Windhoek “the dirtiest city in Africa,” citing potholes and waste management problems.
Haihambo said such selective criticism exposes political inconsistency.
“You can’t claim to fight for accountability when your voice only works against your political opponents; that’s hypocrisy dressed as courage,” he said.
Neither Sankwasa nor Okahandja mayor Beatrice Kotungondo answered calls from the Windhoek Observer.
The newspaper sought to confirm whether a meeting between Sankwasa and the town council took place.
