The Commission is headed by Labour Commissioner Bro-Mathew Shinguadja and consists of John Nauta from State House, Dirk Kotze from the Auditor General's Office and Leone Obbes from the Attorney General's Office.

Labour Minister Marco Hausiku said the Presidential Commission of Inquiry "will go to the bottom" of wideranging mismanagement and corruption uncovered at the SSC by the Ombudsman's Office almost a year ago.

An independent forensic audit by Grand Namibia has already corroborated the report by the Ombudsman's Office which points to alleged fraud by some senior managers at the SSC.

Thousands of dollars are alleged to have been siphoned from the parastatal. Grand Namibia's probe looked at a range of allegations including the abuse of credit cards, the irregular backpayment of acting allowances, and the misuse of subsistence and travelling allowances.

The audit followed a lengthy investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman, prompted by allegations of widespread corruption at the SSC.

Briefing the media on the Commission of Inquiry yesterday, Hausiku said the powers of the Commission extended beyond areas covered by previous investigations.

"The Presidential Inquiry has more powers to investigate areas which could not be entered into," he said.

Hausiku was reluctant to reveal details regarding the mandate of the Commission.

"The terms of reference will be gazetted as required by the Commissions Act of 1947," the Minister added.

He appealed to "all those involved and affected by the investigation to co-operate and help us to finalise this investigation at the earliest possible time".

Hausiku said "proper and transparent management and administration of the public funds entrusted to the Social Security Commission is of utmost importance to the contributors and beneficiaries".

"We therefore need to go to the bottom of all the allegations," he said.
The Minister has also refused to renew the term of office of the SSC Board.

He has appointed a new Board headed by Cabinet Secretary Frans Kapofi. Government representatives on the Board include prominent lawyer Petrus Damaseb, Petronella Masabane from the Ministry of Health, and Cecilia Ndishishi from the Ministry of Finance. Trade unions are represented by Alfred Angula, Helena Helmuth and Sam Shumba.

The Namibia Employers Federation is represented by Dirk Sobotta, SC Collard and Wilhencia Uiras.

The previous board was chaired by Bonifacious Paulino and included Batseba Katjiuongua, Hafeni Ndemula, Sylvester Gawaseb, Anna Nakale, and Tuli Nghiyoonanye.

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