Activist Shaun Gariseb Addresses Mass Enquiry Held at City of Windhoek

Shaun Gariseb, an activist from the Katutura Central Residents’ Committee, sheds light on a mass enquiry conducted at the City of Windhoek’s debt management department. The activist discusses the challenges faced by residents seeking information on debt relief and the unexpected turn of events during their visit.

Gariseb says “Look, when we arrived at the City of Windhoek, we immediately set time at 10 o’clock exactly. Some of us went into the debt management department where there is a query. We wanted to go and establish as to whether they are going to allow all 200 of us to make the inquiry one by one or are they going to call the CEO since we have notified him on Monday that we are going to come?

The reason why we were coming and why we wanted an answer from a senior official like the CEO was simply because even when we were there today in the morning, when the official at the inquiry desk did not understand why we are there and who we are and what we were talking about, we simply just said, we made it easy and made the query. Unfortunately, that was not recorded.

We made the query and asked, when is the debt relief going to be effected? She said… We said, no, we simply said, call your superior. So that was the reason why we were there. Whenever we come, there are no satisfying answers. So we wanted that.

The superiors were engaged in the meeting, but the superiors rather to their… Maybe, I don’t know, the superiors allowed us. They called us into their meeting, myself and Mr. Kandundu. And then the media personality, the new media personnel came or the media people came. Maybe three minutes after we came in.

So when we came in there, when we were having this back and forth, the people, the management of the debt, the senior officials of the debt management department did not know why we are there. They did not want to make any commitment towards giving answers to debt relief. They did not want to refer us to the CEO’s office.

And the moment when they realized that there are four to five people who are recording and they are from the media, then their stance changed. They were shocked. And then they decided, no, no, they cannot speak further. We must speak to corporate communications. And then they decided they were going to call the executive director of finance. And that is when they said, OK, they are going to come back with us.”

Shaun Gariseb’s account provides insight into the challenges faced by residents in obtaining information on debt relief and the dynamic interactions with the City of Windhoek’s debt management department. The unexpected turn of events during the mass enquiry highlights the importance of transparency and communication in addressing the concerns of the community.