Shafudah denies N$65m social grant funds went missing

Finance minister Ericah Shafudah has dismissed allegations that N$65 million linked to social grant payments managed by NamPost have gone missing, telling parliament the funds were accounted for and eventually returned to the state.

“I would like to inform this House that the statement published in the newspaper was misleading. It misled the country and the public because NamPost is very clear about how it accounts for the money it manages,” she told lawmakers in the National Assembly last week.

The allegations first surfaced last year after documents suggested that roughly N$65 million in cash-based grant payments between 2009 and 2019 had not been accounted for.

Some grant payment data for 2013 and 2019 was also reportedly missing from a USB drive provided to government, prompting calls to reconcile the records and verify whether beneficiaries had received the money.

However, the minister underlined that the matter has been resolved.

Reconciliation process

Shafudah explained that unclaimed social grant payments are routinely held in a dedicated account when beneficiaries fail to collect their money.

“When beneficiaries do not come to collect their benefits for a particular month, the money is placed in an account while waiting for the beneficiary to claim it on another day, provided that the beneficiary is not a ghost beneficiary,” she said.

She added that the funds in question were later reconciled between NamPost and the poverty eradication and social welfare ministry after the end of their contract period.

The minister said the reconciliation confirmed that N$93 million in unclaimed grant payments had accumulated over time.

The funds in question were later reconciled between NamPost and the poverty eradication and social welfare after the end of their contract period. The reconciliation showed that N$93 million in unclaimed grant payments had accumulated over time.

“This amount was subsequently paid into the state revenue fund,” she said.

Shafudah stressed that the money had never gone missing.

“Therefore, the money did not go missing. It was simply a matter of waiting for the reconciliation to take place between NamPost and the ministry of gender,” she said.

Defends NamPost appointment

The minister also defended government’s decision to appoint NamPost to manage social grant payments from October 2025.

“The ministry chose to adopt the public entity-to-entity procurement strategy for the appointment of NamPost as a state-owned enterprise with the capacity and capability to manage these grants,” Shafudah said, adding that the process complied with Section 32 of the Public Procurement Act.

Addressing concerns about access to grants in remote areas, Shafudah said NamPost has already implemented measures to improve service delivery.

The postal company is leveraging its national network of 186 branches to assist beneficiaries with enrolment and service queries, while also expanding outreach to rural communities.

The finance minister also acknowledged long queues and congestion experienced in January when large numbers of beneficiaries travelled to urban centres to collect payments.

“In January, almost everyone flocked into the urban centres to access their payments, and that is what caused the situation that happened,” she said.

However, the minister assured that the situation has since stabilised.

“You can all see that February was quiet and the process ran smoothly,” Shafudah said.

She added that improvements made by NamPost had not received the same level of attention as earlier criticism.

“Because we as Namibians do not like to report on success, no one said anything in February to acknowledge the good work done by NamPost,” she said.

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