Staff Reporter
THE Information Ministry’s Executive Director (ED), Audrin Mathe, said that the government will not tolerate any attempts to sabotage the Heroes’ Day Commemoration taking place on Friday and added that the event will take place with or without the participation of the Hardap Regional Council.
This comes after the Chairperson of the Hardap Regional Council, Gerson Dausab, instructed staff members involved with the preparation of the event to withdraw from event planning, adding that action will be taken against those who fail to do so.
According to Dausab, he made this decision because the region’s leadership, with the exception of the Hardap governor Salomon April, were not formally informed about the event and its preparation. He called this “a clear indication to undermine, disregard and disrespect the will of the people”.
Dausab said that he engaged the Deputy Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Natalia Goagoses, to express his dismay about the exclusion and she said that she will convey the message to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
He then received letters from the Secretary to the Cabinet, George Simataa, and the Minister of Urban and Rural Development Erastus Uutoni, urging him to work with the government to plan and commemorate the event. However, in his opinion, these letters failed to deal with the merits of the case.
“The case is that the regional government is not acknowledged, yet we are here in Mariental. The council, which is the principle governing body of this town, does not know (and) is not involved,” he said.
Dausab cited this as the reason he decided to withdraw the council’s staff tasked with preparation.
Despite expressing regret at Dausab’s decision, Mathe assured that the commemoration will take place with or without the council’s involvement on 26 August at the Mariental Sports Field.
File photo for illustrative purposes only.
