Denver Isaacs
29 June 2009
THE long-brewing legal dispute between the Walvis Bay Town Council and a residents' association, stemming from a controversial N$2,8 million payout by the council to its former CEO in 2007, was settled last week.
The Walvis Bay Residents Association and one of the town's residents, Gerd Rössler, on Wednesday reached a settlement with the Walvis Bay Municipal Council in the case in which they were suing the Municipal Council, former Walvis Bay Municipality Chief Executive Officer Augustinus Katiti, the Minister of Regional and Local Government, and the Erongo Regional Council over the N$2,78 million golden handshake that was paid to Katiti after he resigned as the harbour town's municipal CEO at the end of March 2007.
In terms of the settlement agreement, which was made an order of the court by Acting Judge Annel Silungwe, the Residents Association and Rössler withdrew the case they filed against the other four parties in August 2007.
The Walvis Bay Municipal Council in turn agreed to pay N$350 000 to the Residents Association and Rössler before June 30 to help cover their legal costs in the case.
The Residents Association and Rössler sued the Town Council and the other parties in August 2007 a case in which they asked the High Court to overturn the Town Council's decision to approve the N$2,78 million payout to Katiti.
Katiti resigned on short notice as CEO of the Municipality on March 27 2007. His last working day as CEO of the town was April 2 2007.
His resignation took place only some ten months after he had been reappointed as CEO for a five-year term. According to Katiti's employment contract, he had to give 60 days' notice if he wanted to terminate his employment.
The WBRA claimed that his premature resignation amounted to a breach of contract, and attacked the "termination bonus" as being unlawful and unauthorised spending by the Town Council.
Rössler said on Thursday that the decision to withdraw the case was agreed between the two parties in exchange for the council paying the association's legal costs.
Rössler said the money would be used for "the common good", but added that the specifics would still be decided on.
"It could be easily construed by the uninformed mind that the applicants have given up and just took the money and ran. This is definitely not the case," Rössler said.
He said further that the residents believe their concerns will still receive attention, judging from comments made by the Auditor General in his Walvis Bay Municipality Audit Report for the year 2007.
The AG made special mention of the Katiti payout under the heading "Irregular, unauthorised and fruitless expenditure".
"(We) noted that the AG's report had vindicated our stance in an official way, which imposes obligations on the municipal council and the relevant minister to rectify the matter," Rössler said.
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