Fransina Kahungu

Fransina Kahungu (born 1970) is a Namibian politician who is the current Mayor of Windhoek. Formerly the Deputy Mayor of Windhoek in 2016 and 2017, she was elected as the mayor of the city on 13 December 2019.

Kahungu hails from the village of Okapanda. In order to receive a diploma in education at the University of Namibia, she moved to Windhoek in 1994. As a student at Ombalantu Senior Secondary School, Kahungu became involved in politics as a member of the Namibia National Students Organisation. From 1998 to 2017, Kahungu worked first as a teacher and then an administrator at Olof Palme Primary School, located in the Windhoek informal settlement of Greenwell Matongo. She was first elected as a member of the Windhoek city council in 2010, and became the deputy secretary of the SWAPO Party Women Council in 2016. While still on the city council, she served as Deputy Mayor of Windhoek in 2016 and 2017.[1]

She was elected as mayor of the city on 13 December 2019, after the incumbent mayor Muesee Kazapua was absent for the municipality's internal elections.[2][3] According to a report by the Namibia Press Agency, the City of Windhoek spokesperson Harold Akwenye and Kazapua himself both asserted that the city's leadership had not changed, and that Kazapua was still mayor of the city. Agatha Ashilelo, the chair of the City of Windhoek management committee, stated that Kahungu had replaced Kazapua as mayor according to a decision made by the SWAPO Regional Executive Committee.[4]

In January 2020, the Namibia Economist and the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Office of the Mayor announced its relocation from central Windhoek to a community centre located in the informal settlement of Babylon, while the Office of the Deputy Mayor was to remain in the original location. The arrangement is set to remain for the duration of Kahungu's term as mayor.[5][6]