Stop suspensions at parastatals - Jooste

The Minister of Public Enterprise, Leon Jooste, says the suspension of chief executive officers and managing directors at state-owned enterprises is an expensive exercise, particularly considering the legal costs. Jooste said the unresolved suspensions of TransNamib CEO Sara Naanda, Air Namibia MD Theo Namases and Namibia Training Authority (NTA) CEO Maria Nangolo-Rukoro were unacceptable. Nangolo-Rukoro was suspended in 2013 following allegations of corruption, while Namases was suspended last year to allow investigations into her conduct amid infighting at the airline. Naanda was suspended last year after allegations of misconduct were levelled against her. “As the minister responsible for public enterprises, I want to put it on record that I expect to see an immediate end to this unwanted practice,” Jooste said. “I conclude that some boards and CEOs seem to engage in, almost at will, at the drop of a hat without any full appreciation and consideration of the financial governance implications and impact thereof [sic].” He said at a certain public enterprise legal costs of N$10 million had been incurred because of seemingly endless disciplinary hearings and legal processes. Jooste said he believed such processes went beyond the principles of fairness and reasonableness. During an earlier interview with Namibian Sun, Jooste had said he would not get his hands dirty by interfering the ongoing disputes and longstanding suspensions of CEOs and MDs. However, in his latest remarks, Jooste said he was not against suspensions, especially where they were warranted. “What I am rather vehemently opposed to is the seemingly indiscriminate, if not arbitrary, use of suspensions for purposes other than to carry out preliminary investigations.” He said the purpose of such investigations was to determine whether a disciplinary hearing was warranted or whether a criminal offence had been committed. “There is no way that any reasonable person would believe that such a preliminary investigation would take more than two years before it goes for a hearing.” He emphasised that he was against suspension being used as a punitive measure or as a personal vendetta against any individual. “There must be a timeframe for these kinds of processes.” According to him, the ministry is working on guidelines in this regard and directives will be forwarded to all public enterprises. Jooste said he still had to decide which of the 86 state-owned enterprises would be moved to his ministry, and on the relationship with other ministries. WINDHOEK ELVIS MURARANGANDA