The national road and rail carrier is also engaging other partners in its business to ensure that the turmoil in which it finds itself does not affect its operations negatively.

After the board put TransNamib CEO Titus Haimbili on "special leave" two weeks ago, the Namibia Transport and Allied Workers Union has been demanding the unconditional return of the CEO and has threatened to strike if the board does not do this.

The Namibian reported yesterday that TransNa­mib is in financial dire straits after banks withdrew its overdraft facilities because of managerial instability.

"Following the granting of special leave to the CEO, Mr Titus Haimbili, a fortnight ago, various sectors including financial institution[s] raised their concerns regarding the running of the business and continuation of service delivery," Aily Hangula-Paulino, Trans­Namib's Chief Corporate Communications Officer, said in a statement issued last night.

According to sources at the company, TransNamib faces serious cash-flow problems and would not be able to pay bills and salaries if the situation continued.

The parastatal has so far refused to give into to the union demand, saying it is investigating corporate governance violations against Haimbili.

Allaying fears that its operations would be interrupted by the impending strike, Hangula-Paulino said the "freight and passenger services are running as scheduled".

"The management team is engaging concerned parties on an ongoing basis to clarify relevant issues and TransNamib will spare no effort in making sure that all customers' needs are attended to timeously," she said.

Reliable sources told The Namibian on Wednesday that commercial banks are refusing to deal with acting CEO Mike Kavekotora, questioning his decision-making powers and claiming that there is too much instability for them to provide overdraft facilities to the troubled carrier.

In its statement last night, TransNamib only confirmed that it is in talks with banks, but it was not clear whether it has made any breakthrough to ensure its credit lifeline is not cut.

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