Lutombi ready for 'huge City responsibility'

Conrad Lutombi, the man chosen to head the City of Windhoek, says he is studying an offer he received on Friday after his appointment got all the necessary approvals, adding that he's glad the controversial recruitment process came to an end.

Speaking to Namibian Sun yesterday, he did not want to be drawn into talks about the process which pitted City council members against each other, saying: “I have done nothing wrong. I applied for the position, I came for the interview and saw reports

in the papers.

"I do not want to comment on that. I did what I could do. I don’t know if there were issues, [but] I know I did not do anything wrong.”

He added that he would study the offer before making any formal pronouncements regarding the five-year contract.

“It is a huge responsibility, I cannot just accept without reading the offer. I am not driven by money, but by service delivery."

'Sufficiently addressed'

Last week, Windhoek mayor Sade Gawanas defended the recruitment process the City of Windhoek used for the CEO position, saying: “Allegations of biasness with respect to the shortlisting and selection process were sufficiently addressed upon review of the

documentation by councillors. The department of human capital and corporate services availed all documentation including management committee minutes, lists of all applicants as well as individual resumes for scrutiny and review”.

Gawanas made her position clear after the process had been brought into question by urban and rural development minister, Erastus Utoni.

He had earlier this month written to Gawanas, saying he wanted to investigate and address concerns raised by the Namibia Local Authority Workers Union (Nalawu) on the recruitment process.

Hitting back at the claims, the mayor denied any wrongdoing on the part of the recruitment panel or the process that lead to Lutombi getting the nod to serve as the City’s CEO, two years and one month after the departure of former CEO Robert Kahimise.

Mayumbelo’s presence on panel above board

Gawanas also defended City of Windhoek strategic executive for human capital and corporate services executive George Mayumbelo’s role in the recruitment process, with the City making provision for a human resources staff member to be part of the process.

“The interview panel nominated Mr George Mayumbelo to serve as chairperson of the interview panel, a role which was limited to ensuring administrative compliance as all interview panel members remained independent and served the panel in their respective capacities,” she said.

Mayumbelo’s role had been questioned after it came to light that he scored Lutombi favourably during the interview process. He is alleged to have given prospective CEO a perfect score of 100%, an allegation Gawanas denied vehemently.

“The allegation that Mr Mayumbelo scored Mr Lutombi at 100% is incorrect. It should be kindly noted that the scoring system is quotient based, which therefore requires that a member scores [applicants] as a 'five' on a scoring range of one to five. The awarding of a five is therefore not considered as a perfect score, but rather a score indicative of being equal to or above the 80th percentile,” she said.

'Not possible'

Gawanas also hit out at claims that interview questions had been leaked to candidates.

“Leaking of interview questions was not possible as the questions were determined on the day of the interview collectively. It should be further noted that all mobile phones were confiscated in order to avoid leakages of information,” she said.

Lutombi scored the highest of the shortlisted applicants, followed by Otjiwarongo CEO Moses Matyayi and NamWater executive Eino Emvula.