Job wants SSC contributions back
Job Amupanda says he does not intend to bankroll large, questionable investments.
Affirmative Repositioning (AR) activist Job Amupanda says he wants his monthly contributions to the Social Security Commission (SSC) back “until further notice”.
In a letter to the chief executive officer of the SSC, Milka Mungunda, Amupanda says he is consulting a lawyer about how he can stop making the obligatory Social Security contributions.
Amupanda's letter is based on recent media reports of alleged tainted urban land deals. The SSC is accused of having bought two plots at inflated prices from Ministry of Works and Transport employee Ambrosius Tierspoor.
The letter also refers to the N$150 million that the SSC invested with the SME Bank, which has been placed under curatorship by the Bank of Namibia following a questionable investment of N$200 million in South Africa.
That amount included more than N$11 million paid into an executive account at the SME Bank at the end of last year at the behest of President Hage Geingob to make provision for training for the so-called struggle kids.
Amupanda compares the SSC to a tick that sticks to an animal and sucks it dry. He is also unhappy with the size of Social Security benefits payments.
!GAWAXAB 'sets record straight'
The SSC board chairperson, Johannes !Gawaxab, responded in a paid advertisement in several newspapers yesterday
He said the SSC had “significantly improved” its benefits since January 2016. Maternity benefits had increased from N$10 000 to N$13 000, death benefits from N$5 515 to N$8 475, and sick leave benefits by 24% to a maximum of N$9 750.
A recommendation to extend maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks was also on the table.
As for the prices paid for the two Windhoek properties, !Gawaxab said the allegations were “deliberately inaccurate”, as the total planned property expenditure had been reduced by 50%.
He said the SSC had initially paid N$47 million for a plot on Independence Avenue in Windhoek where it could build its head office. The purchase and excavations cost the SSC N$85 million and the total estimated costs for this project would have been between N$800 million and N$1 billion, which !Gawaxab said was almost a third of the total assets of the SSC.
He said because it was becoming too costly, the SSC stopped the project and decided to dispose of this property entirely.
!Gawaxab added that the SSC had since received offers of more than it had paid for the plot.
The commission then opted to buy the properties on Hosea Kutako Avenue from Tierspoor at an average cost of N$11 000 per square metre. It intended to build its headquarters there at a cost of around N$420 million, he said.
At Okahandja the SSC intended to acquire three plots for offices and a shopping centre at an estimated cost of N$14 million instead of N$48 million as initially envisaged.
At Keetmanshoop, the initial budget for renovating the SSC office was reduced from N$50 million to N$13 million, !Gawaxab said.
SME Bank investment
As far as the N$150 million investment in the SME Bank is concerned, !Gawaxab said the SSC's investment committee had approved the investment and that Mungunda, a board member at the bank, had recused herself from that decision.
!Gawaxab said 75% of the SSC funds was managed by external managers; the remaining 25% was managed in-house for benefit payments and for working capital.
CATHERINE SASMAN
In a letter to the chief executive officer of the SSC, Milka Mungunda, Amupanda says he is consulting a lawyer about how he can stop making the obligatory Social Security contributions.
Amupanda's letter is based on recent media reports of alleged tainted urban land deals. The SSC is accused of having bought two plots at inflated prices from Ministry of Works and Transport employee Ambrosius Tierspoor.
The letter also refers to the N$150 million that the SSC invested with the SME Bank, which has been placed under curatorship by the Bank of Namibia following a questionable investment of N$200 million in South Africa.
That amount included more than N$11 million paid into an executive account at the SME Bank at the end of last year at the behest of President Hage Geingob to make provision for training for the so-called struggle kids.
Amupanda compares the SSC to a tick that sticks to an animal and sucks it dry. He is also unhappy with the size of Social Security benefits payments.
!GAWAXAB 'sets record straight'
The SSC board chairperson, Johannes !Gawaxab, responded in a paid advertisement in several newspapers yesterday
He said the SSC had “significantly improved” its benefits since January 2016. Maternity benefits had increased from N$10 000 to N$13 000, death benefits from N$5 515 to N$8 475, and sick leave benefits by 24% to a maximum of N$9 750.
A recommendation to extend maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks was also on the table.
As for the prices paid for the two Windhoek properties, !Gawaxab said the allegations were “deliberately inaccurate”, as the total planned property expenditure had been reduced by 50%.
He said the SSC had initially paid N$47 million for a plot on Independence Avenue in Windhoek where it could build its head office. The purchase and excavations cost the SSC N$85 million and the total estimated costs for this project would have been between N$800 million and N$1 billion, which !Gawaxab said was almost a third of the total assets of the SSC.
He said because it was becoming too costly, the SSC stopped the project and decided to dispose of this property entirely.
!Gawaxab added that the SSC had since received offers of more than it had paid for the plot.
The commission then opted to buy the properties on Hosea Kutako Avenue from Tierspoor at an average cost of N$11 000 per square metre. It intended to build its headquarters there at a cost of around N$420 million, he said.
At Okahandja the SSC intended to acquire three plots for offices and a shopping centre at an estimated cost of N$14 million instead of N$48 million as initially envisaged.
At Keetmanshoop, the initial budget for renovating the SSC office was reduced from N$50 million to N$13 million, !Gawaxab said.
SME Bank investment
As far as the N$150 million investment in the SME Bank is concerned, !Gawaxab said the SSC's investment committee had approved the investment and that Mungunda, a board member at the bank, had recused herself from that decision.
!Gawaxab said 75% of the SSC funds was managed by external managers; the remaining 25% was managed in-house for benefit payments and for working capital.
CATHERINE SASMAN
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