Worst SOEs revealed

Three waterfront companies, the national airline and the Roads Contractor Company (RCC) are the worst ranking public enterprises in Namibia.This is according to the Public Enterprise Annual Rankings, which is a new Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) publication.The rankings are based on an assessment of 21 commercial state-owned enterprises.It focuses on 10 criteria, including profitability, availability of information, mismanagement and corruption, board stability, taxes and dividends paid and investment in the economy. The assessments are based on information that has been made available publicly.According to the report, almost all the 21 entities assessed suffer from the late publication of financial statements and annual reports, while some have not published anything in a long time, and taxpayers keep them afloat with constant bailouts.NamPower was ranked as the best performing commercial public enterprise, followed by MTC and NamPost, with scores of 99, 97 and 94 out of a 100 respectively. The Lüderitz Waterfront Development Company, which was ranked 17th out of the 21 public enterprises, received a score of 15.According to the publication, the first phase, which included Harbour Square, shops, restaurants, offices and flats, was completed in 2002.Phase 2, including the redevelopment of the Old Power Station, was given the go-ahead in 2008, but in the last year it was reported to be running into difficulties raising the N$400m required. It was due to receive N$4.2 million from the national budget in 2019/20 financial year for the development of the Maritime Museum.“Accusations of minor maladministration reached the media in 2018 and they were lodged with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), but nothing has surfaced during the past year.” The report adds that the company's website, luderitzwaterfront.com.na, is also badly out of date.With regards to Air Namibia, ranked 18th with a score of 10, the publication said the airline has failed to publish an annual report for well over a decade. “Despite this lack of information, the company has clearly made consistent losses and therefore failed to pay taxes or dividends to government, requiring instead sizeable transfers from the national budget as well as loan guarantees in order to continue to operate.”IPPR further said senior managers with little or no experience of the airline industry continue to be appointed and unexpected changes in both the company board and senior management have taken place throughout the past year. According to IPPR, there is so little public information about the Henties Bay Waterfront that it is impossible to say anything definite about the company at all. “Given the green light in 2004, it did not have a website, produce public financial statements or receive money from the national budget in the last year.” Ranked 19th on the index, it had a score of five out of 100.The report said there is very little public information available on the Zambezi Waterfront Tourism Park as well. The Zambezi Waterfront is ranked 20th on the list. The project was placed under the management of Namibia Wildlife Resorts in 2014 but government shut the facility in 2016 after allegations of rampant corruption and maladministration. There is therefore no separate board or governance structure. “An investigation in 2018 found that N$50 million out of N$180 million pumped into the project could not be accounted for. It is now estimated that a further N$35 million may be required to reopen the park, which all the while is falling into a state of disrepair.” Meanwhile, IPPR said that the RCC, which performed the worst among the public enterprises, has a long history of poor management and performance. The last full annual report published was in 2005. The national budget allocated N$20.9 million tothe company in the 2019/20 financial year. The publication noted that the Roads Authority has in the past awarded contracts to the RCC without going to tender and the RCC has been accused of carrying out substandard work and subcontracting to Chinese companies. “Things came to a head last year when a report on the future of the RCC was submitted to the Cabinet Committee on Treasury, reportedly containing a recommendation that the insolvent company be shut down.” In July, Cabinet instructed Namibia Post and Telecommunications Holdings (NPTH), the holding company of MTC and Telecom Namibia, to purchase the head office of the RCC for an estimated N$104 million to prevent the property being repossessed by Bank Windhoek due to non-payment of the mortgage. ELLANIE SMIT

Worst SOEs revealed

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Namibian Sun 2026-07-06

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Worst SOEs revealed

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Namibian Sun 2026-07-06

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