Walvis Bay given RedForce contract deadline

Minister of urban and rural development James Sankwasa has given the Walvis Bay municipality until 30 September to act on the attorney general’s legal opinion on its contract with RedForce Debt Management.

The directive comes amid a dispute over RedForce’s debt collection fees and water disconnections involving municipal debt.

“I am now directing that the council acts in terms and as per the legal opinion of the attorney general on or before 30 September 2026,” Sankwasa says.

The minister’s directive comes after the High Court on 3 September ordered the municipality and those acting under its direction to refrain from disconnecting the water supply of Wena Investments, which had taken the municipality and RedForce Debt Management CC to court.

The court also ordered the municipality to pay the applicant’s costs.

According to the minister, the RedForce contract was signed only by the municipality’s chief executive and was not co-signed as required by Section 31A of the Local Authorities Act.

He says the attorney general had found the contract to be flawed.

“The attorney general gave a legal opinion directing that this contract is flawed and not valid since it does not meet the legal requirement stipulated in this section of the enabling law,” Sankwasa says.

He has also rejected the argument that the contract was valid because RedForce had been awarded the tender through the procurement process.

He says the awarding of a tender and the signing of a contract are two separate processes.

“An award letter forms part of the contract as it creates intention but does not contain terms and conditions required in accordance with the legal requirement of a valid contract,” he says.

The minister says the chief executive was authorised to issue an award letter but was not authorised to sign the contract without the required co-signature.

Sankwasa also questions the additional charges residents face when RedForce collects municipal debt.

He says residents were being charged the amount they owed the municipality, together with an additional percentage charged by RedForce.

“So, the residents are being charged double,” he says.

He argues that residents did not have contracts with RedForce because their agreement for municipal services was with the municipality.

The minister says the situation was further complicated by water disconnections where residents may have paid their municipal bills but had not paid the additional RedForce charge.

Sankwasa says he wants the expenditure linked to the matter recovered from councillors who he believes failed to protect the municipality and residents.

“I am now directing that this unnecessary expenditure be recovered from all councillors who are failing to protect the residents and the government institution (the municipality) by protecting personal interests instead of government and residents’ interests,” he says.

The minister questions why councillors and senior staff members continued defending the RedForce contract despite the attorney general’s opinion.

He says this is forcing him to institute a forensic investigation into the operation of the municipality.

“Why would councillors elected to advance development defend a company so much at the expense of the electorate if such councillors do not have their hand in the RedForce cash till?” he says.

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