The statement comes amid a controversial about-turn on the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer for the Social Security Commission (SSC) following political pressure on Labour Minister Marco Hausiku and Board Chairperson Frans Kapofi.

The Namibian has learnt that after a meeting the two had with President Sam Nujoma two weeks ago, they cancelled the appointment of Koot van der Merwe, General Manager for Finance at the Namibia Ports Authority (NamPort).

The contract had already been signed and Van der Merwe had bought a house in Windhoek in anticipation of his relocation to Windhoek next month.

Reports have indicated that plans to appoint Van der Merwe, whom the board considered as having the financial know-how to deal with the mess at the SSC, were scuppered following strong lobbying and opposition from trade unions.

Trade unions are represented on the SSC board and their members had reportedly earlier approved Van der Merwe's appointment.

However, the President of the Swapo-affiliated National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), Risto Kapenda, suggested yesterday that allegiance to Swapo was the driving force behind the ousting of Van der Merwe.

Kapenda declined to confirm or deny that the NUNW had blocked the NamPort man's appointment despite having representatives on the SSC board.

He also dismissed a suggestion that they lobbied politicians in Government to stop Van der Merwe from taking over the reins at the SSC.

"The NUNW supports any appointment that will carry out tasks in accordance with the Swapo manifesto.

Anybody to be appointed [head of] the Social Security Commission must be able to satisfy the Government run by Swapo.

If the person is qualified, it is an advantage.

All they need to do is to acquaint themselves with the Swapo manifesto," he said, stating that he was not referring to Van der Merwe.

The trade union leader said water, electricity, the post office and telephone systems had become expensive mainly because of people put in positions without understanding the "moral fabric of the masses".

He claimed non-Swapo people had "intentionally sabotaged" the party's policies.

Besides, he said, the Ministry of Labour "is the custodian of the affirmative action policy" and could not afford to "set a precedent".

"They are supposed to make sure that blacks are running the issues," he said at one stage, while also saying the unions did not care what colour people should be in order to occupy top Government posts.

Kapenda said the unions did not think Van der Merwe out-performed other candidates.

"He was not the only angel.

There were other angels but they were black angels and they need to be supported too".

Asked why the unions waited until the contract was signed to raise objections, Kapenda said the timing did not matter.

Lazarus Uaandja, Executive Director of the Central Governance Agency, which was set up to ensure that State companies are run on sound business principles, declined to comment on the controversy surrounding Van der Merwe's appointment.

Uaandja said the agency did not have "legal authority to engage in such activities" because a bill setting out its functions was still to come to parliament.

"It's an issue of interest and we will monitor it," he said of the SSC appointment.

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