Government addressing RCC building issue

Government is said to be addressing the issue of the Roads Contractor Company (RCC) potentially losing its building following Bank Windhoek's intent to attach its headquarters.

The RCC is said to owe the bank N$80 million.

Public enterprises minister Leon Jooste said government was looking at the development with keen interest.

“We are looking into the matter to see how we can mitigate the effects,” he said when contacted.

Bank Windhoek last week would neither confirm nor deny if they were planning to attach the RCC's building when contacted.

“Bank Windhoek does have a pending High Court matter against RCC and it is under judicial consideration therefore we are prohibited from public discussion elsewhere.

“Regulatory guidelines on client privacy further prohibit us from sharing client details,” it said.

“Judicial consideration and judicial management are two different concepts,” it added.

It will not be the first time the bank has tried to attach the RCC's building.

In June 2018, former acting CEO Seth Herunga had to write to transport minister John Mutorwa informing him that the bank had given it 30 days to pay approximately N$80.2 million.

Moreover, it is also not the first time that the RCC's assets have been attached. In 2018, Namibia Protection Services managed to attach its assets in Keetmanshoop over a N$4-million debt while the RCC's plant and machinery had already been auctioned off at Keetmanshoop and Ondangwa in forced disposals, whose proceeds were by far below the market value of those assets, Nampa reported last year.

Jooste had in the past suggested that the RCC be placed under judicial management to avoid the company's assets being attached. Transport minister John Mutorwa, under whose ambit the RCC falls, has however suggested that the entity be revived with a new turnaround strategy.

“The RCC has many creditors who will, while the company is under judicial management, have to wait to see their claims against the company settled.

The judicial manager will proactively seek ways to restructure the debt of the company and respond to the financial demands of the company,” Jooste said previously.

OGONE TLHAGE