Vitalis Ankama, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, had promised a full and independent investigation into these alleged practises, which he said should be undertaken by an outside agency.

"I had to wait for my terms of reference," he said on Tuesday in reply to a question on how the investigation was progressing.

But documents in possession of The Namibian indicate that the investigation so far consists only of collecting milk powder, mince meat and sausage samples from three hostels per region, including one sample from a rural school.

Independence Catering, which owns the butchery that supplies the company with meat, was accused of excessive use of an algae-derived product as a so-called extender and stabiliser in its meat and milk products.

It has denied all allegations against it.

Independence MD Ed Davies took out full-page ads in all local newspapers to defend his company against these allegations.

In the meantime, an urgent directive, issued by Director of Hostels CM Kabajani on January 17, which refers to the original article in The Namibian, has ordered that all meat samples be sealed and frozen hard before being sent by courier to the Ministry's GD Enssle.

All samples have to be signed off by school principals or superintendents, the chief hostel matrons, as well as the responsible hostel inspectors.

But angry junior hostel staff, who have contacted The Namibian since the investigation started, complained that the investigation is looking for evidence that is not there anymore.

"After the story, the quality of food we got improved by 100 per cent," one matron said.

The three-year food supply tender, worth some N$320 million when last awarded in 2003, is allocated to suppliers in four geographical regions the Central Region, Southern Region, Western Region and the Caprivi.

The tenders for all regions, with the exception of Caprivi, are currently held by three members of the Catering Association of Namibia (CAN).

The Namibian previously reported that the Caprivi contract was held by Top Trading CC, on the basis of written information supplied by the Secretary of the Tender Board, Miriam Onesmus.

It was, however, subsequently established that this part of the tender was awarded to Global Foods, a non-CAN member.

* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587

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