By: Staff Writer

Swapo’s Ndengu Stefanus was declared the winner of the recently concluded by-elections of the Moses //Garoëb constituency.

On Friday, residents of the Moses //Garoëb constituency headed to the polls to vote for the councillor of their choice, following the death of the constituency councillor, Aili Venonya, in October last year.

Stefanus was competing against Mwandingi Moses of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), Nakale Shinime of the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) and two independent candidates Moses Hengobe and Hashongo Ndalifilwa.

“I will work with the people. I have to listen to the people and what they want. If we identify a problem then all the stakeholders will sit down and find amicable solutions. It does not mean that I will do things alone. I have to do it with them to find solutions,” Stefanus told The Villager.

According to him, the Moses //Garoëb constituency is in need of many things as 90% of its residents are living in informal settlements with water supply issues.
“The first priorities that they have are water, sanitation and hygiene,” he said.
During the by-election 4 822 votes were counted of which 23 ballots were rejected.
“The registered voters for the Moses //Garoeb Constituency for the by-election was 42 135. This translates to a total voter turnout of 11.5%,” said Theo Mujoro, the Electoral Commission of Namiba’s chief electoral and referanda officer.
Stefanus walked away with 2 970 votes, followed by IPC’s Mwandingi with 1 270 votes.
NEFF’s Shinime received 267 vote, while the two independent candidates Hengombe and Ndalifilwa scored 243 and 72, respectively.
Mujoro extended gratitude to election officials, party agents, the Namibian Police, and the media for overseeing the conduct of the electoral process.
“The ECN would like to thank all the voters that turned up at the various polling stations to cast their votes,”the ECN boss said.
ECN’s deputy director for democracy building Marilyn Kazetjikuria said the registration of voters in the constituency went smoothly.
“We had over 32 000 registered voters for the entire constituency,” she said.
The ECN had set up 25 polling stations in this constituency with a population of over 45 000.