The former mayor of Ondangwa Priscilla Kauna Nashandi passed away yesterday at the age of 61. Nashandi, who was the Deputy Chairperson of Ondangwa Town Council Management Committee at the time of her death, had been ill in a Windhoek hospital, according to Ondangwa Town Council Public Relations Officer, Lukas Salomo.

Nashandi served as the mayor of Ondangwa in 2006. She also served as an ordinary member of the council and chairperson of the council's Management Committee.

"The late councillor Nashandi played many crucial roles within the council. She contributed in various ways to the development of Ondangwa and made herself available to serve the public in various capacities. She did her best to make this town a better place for inhabitants. Her death came as a serious blow to the town. We knew that she was battling an illness for sometime now, but we did not expect her to go so soon. The passing comes as a shock to us. She was a patron of our town and she had the interests of the town at heart," said Salomo.

The late Nashandi who was the sixth mayor of Ondangwa died a few months after the death of the town's fifth mayor Dr Otto Kapia.

Kapia who served as a mayor between 2002 and 2005 succumbed to cancer on April 2 this year. He was 79 years old.

The funeral for the late Nashandi will take place at her home village of Onayena in Oshikoto Region. The late councillor is survived by her husband Sakaria Nashandi, a former Robben Island prisoner, as well as her children and grandchildren.