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Tue 13 Aug 2013

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SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam
Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r
Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p
SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha
Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in
Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a
SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for
Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont
Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf
SMS Of The Day * WHY doesn’t NBC listen when they are criticised? The little red chairs on Good Morning Namibia have done their part and are dirty especially at the arm rests. Please listen for once. You interview professionals and internationals on those
Food For Thought * MINISTRY of Education, in order to address the shortages of teachers at primary schools why don’t you consider employing us who hold a diploma in lifelong learning and community education for teaching posts? We also did health education
Bouquets And Brickbats * MY fellow Namibians, I am not a Swapo member but a third term for President Hifikepuye Pohamba will be a step closer towards attainment of Vision 2030. Believe me His Excellency has made crucial bold decisions, and I don’t regret

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NEWS - NAMIBIA | 2013-08-13

SME Bank woes drag on

Tileni Mongudhi

THE Ministry of Trade and Industry will renegotiate its stake in the SME Bank and change the current shareholding structure which does not comply with the law and disadvantages government.

Ministry of Trade and Industry sources told The Namibian that the decision to renegotiate was made on Wednesday after Minister Calle Schlettwein called his management team to discuss thorny issues regarding the SME Bank.

Schlettwein confirmed the Wednesday meeting but refused to give further details stating that the internal meeting was intended to push the SME Bank to fulfill its mandate, “which is to serve SME development in the country.”

The meeting resolved that the SME Bank shareholding structure should be changed to either reflect how much money each of the parties invested into the business or that the Zimbabwean partners should dilute their shares and give them to the Namibian government.

The Namibia Financing

Trust, which holds government shares of 65% in the SME Bank, is putting up assets worth more than N$145 million as start-up capital into the venture. Apart from investing N$45 million to buy the building, which the SME bank operates from, it also has over N$100 million left, an amount which was transferred from the now closed Credit Guarantee Scheme.

The Namibian understands that the Zimbabwean partners raised start-up capital of about N$25 million, which is what the Bank has been using for its day-to-day operations. (The Metropolitan Bank of Zimbabwe holds a 30% stake and Zimbabwean businessman Enoch Kamushinda holds the remaining five percent through his company World Eagle.)

Government’s assets have not yet been transferred to the SME Bank due to legal implications. Trade and Industry sources said that the Namibia Financing Trust is registered as a Section 21 company. By law, a section 21 company, a non-profit entity, cannot transfer assets to a commercial company. Government is currently seeking legal advice on how to transfer the assets to the SME Bank.

At Wednesday’s meeting, it was also revealed that the Ministry as the shareholder was not happy with the management structure at the SME Bank and that it was not approved by the board. The meeting then resolved that the Bank’s board and management must be compelled to start providing Trade minister Schlettwein with monthly reports on the bank’s progress.

SME Bank Chairperson Frans Kapofi said he does not want to talk to The Namibian reporter.

Last week, The Namibian reported that the Bank of Namibia stopped awarding the financial institution a banking license in 2010 because one of the bank’s linchpin, Enoch Kamushinda, was deemed to “lack integrity” and to have no “respect for corporate governance”.

Comment on this article

Latest comments

Yet another misleading article, the Zimbabwean partners have invested way more than N$25mil and they were brought primarily for technical expertise and not for their monetary capital contribution. It would be ignorant of us to not admit that we have a skills shortage which our Government is trying hard to address and therefore having a foreign counterpart to work with to establish an SME driven bank is necessary at this point. Let us not make damaging remarks which will chase away fellow African investors who want to help us develop our economy and yet we embrace foreigners from the USA, Britain or China which makes us hyprocrites. - S Becker

I totally agree with the latest comments, I mean there are prominent business people in our community which can easily invest in the SME bank, either three or four of the countries businessman can come up with that sum of 25million if given the opportunity to invest. We talk about empowering the nation but then we give away opportunities like this once to foreign based business people instead of our own. Let's please do things wright and not sell out our beloved country-Glen - Glen

the issue is not about being Zimbabwean even a naibian can own a forigh bank thank you. - brian

Why do our Government have to use so called leaders who fail to develop or atleast to stabilise the suituation in their country? - EdwardMP

I personally think our Government should buy out these Zimbabwean's. When will we start doing and running our own entities. If we call them experts, until when will we need these so called experts. Our Namibian brothers and sisters are fully educationally equip with experience to run and operate the SME bank without there money. - driesie

We have people with banking experience in Namibia. Why do we nee our brothers from Zim? They are so greedy they should go back home. I think some of our leaders are are bringing in these Zims so that when things go wrong fingers are pointed towards the Zims but in actual fact they share the loot. The idea is good but i think the main idea behind is very bad. Stop being greedy! - DON

Why should our SME bank be funded by foreigner donors? Don't our banking sector have the capacity to do that? What about our own people????? Do you see now how we are stranded? All they (foreigners) want is money nothing else - Tuhafeni