Geingob championed SOE reforms – Jooste

Former minister Leon Jooste says late president Hage Geingob fought tirelessly to improve good corporate practices within state-owned enterprises (SOEs) during his administration.

Jooste made the comments in the wake of Geingob’s death due to cancer earlier this month.

He previously led the public enterprises ministry, which has since been merged with the finance ministry.

“The quality of governance, and in this case corporate governance at SOEs, was very important to the president. This is why he decided to create a dedicated, standalone ministry to deal with the matter,” he said.

Government did not realise the scope of the problems facing SOEs, which was only unearthed after research undertaken, Jooste said, adding that it was at this point that the reforms championed by Geingob gained prominence.

“It was only after we managed to gather enough data and information and conducted our own research - which included targeted benchmarking - that we understood the depth of the problem and the root causes of the historic challenges,” he said.

Positive path

Geingob’s efforts to see SOEs overhauled included granting support to the then public enterprises ministry to oversee the promulgation of the Public Enterprises Governance Act (PEGA).

“The president provided immense support for the promulgation of the PEGA and the various interventions that followed to turn the negative trend around and set us on the positive path towards improved governance of SOEs,” Jooste said.

Despite the late president’s intervention, the road towards reforming SOEs is unending and will require collective effort to ensure the planned reforms are successful, he noted.

“Our research exposed the inherent complexity of the reform process and the unfortunate reality that it is by its very nature time-consuming, so yes, with the support of the president and the entire Cabinet, we did as much as humanly possible to improve the quality of corporate governance in our SOEs. But the journey is not complete and the next steps are critical to achieve the desired status,” he said.

A game-changer

Jooste, who served as deputy tourism minister under the Hifikepunye Pohamba administration, returned to politics because of Geingob, he said.

“Hage Geingob the person, not the title holder of any kind, is the reason I took the decision to rejoin politics in 2012. In him, I saw a game-changer and a reformer with the boldness to take uncomfortable decisions for the greater good of Namibia and I had a great desire to be part of his team to tackle inequality in Namibia.”

The two would embark on a difficult journey to reform SOEs, which also tested their relationship at times.

“The journey to reform our SOEs was more intricate than anyone will ever appreciate and I refused to compromise to make the most appropriate recommendations, regardless of how controversial some of them might be. This tested our relationship to the extreme and we had our fair share of differences, but he always made certain that we discussed these matters and retained mutual respect at all costs,” he said.

Jooste described Geingob as a leader who protected and shielded his ministers, and still allowed them to carry out their duties.

“He always remained steadfast in his commitment towards his ministers and their respective portfolio-related responsibilities, and this made us feel safe and empowered to perform our functions to the best of our abilities,” he said.

Geingob’s death, according to Jooste, was ‘unbelievably sad’ because he would not be able to see the changes he desired in Namibia’s corporate space.

“I find it unbelievably sad that he will not be around to experience the fruits of his labour, but it is now our duty to make sure that the generations to come are reminded of the architect of the reforms the Namibian economy is about to experience.”