ACC probes minister James Sankwasa over N$4.9 million tender, tax certificate under scrutiny

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has asked urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa to explain details around a tax compliance certificate he used to win a N$4.9 million government tender.

This comes amid suspicions within the agency that the document is fake.

The inquiry is part of an ongoing investigation into the minister, who has told the ACC that a Zimbabwean national, now deceased, assisted him in obtaining the Namibia Revenue Agency (Namra) good standing certificate.

Sankwasa is under ACC investigation over how his company, Cha-Cha-Cha Management Consultancy, won a tender to shut down state-owned agriculture company Agribusdev.

A new twist in the case is that investigators are focusing on the tax good standing certificate Sankwasa used to win the contract. While the ACC did not explicitly say they suspect the certificate is fake, investigators say it is one of the key aspects under scrutiny.

“Who requested the tax good standing certificate for Cha-Cha-Cha Management Consultancy CC from the receiver of revenue and submitted it to the ministry? Were you in good standing at the time?” the ACC asked Sankwasa in September last year.

The certificate is often required when bidding for government tenders.

Sankwasa told officials that he used the late George Dzimwasha, a business management expert from Zimbabwe, to obtain the certificate.

Sankwasa did not say when Dzimwasha died. According to Sankwasa, the Namra certificate was requested by Dzimwasha while the minister was attending political rallies at Rundu and Nkurenkuru.

“After having satisfied themselves about the company’s application, the official at the receiver of revenue (Namra) granted a good-standing certificate,” he says.

Sankwasa adds that Namra’s general practice is that applicants request a certificate and officials issue it once satisfied with the application.

“Being in good standing does not per se mean that a taxpayer has no outstanding taxes. It is a practice for taxpayers in arrears to obtain a good standing certificate, subject to approval by Namra officials responsible for issuing such certificates,” he says.

Questions sent to Namra were not answered by the time of going to print.

The Namibian understands that the ACC has since asked Sankwasa to provide Dzimwasha’s death certificate.

Sankwasa told The Namibian yesterday that this is a witch hunt.

“I have already spoken about this issue. I have nothing else to say because this is a witch hunt in the first place. So, let the hunters keep hunting. That’s all I can say. I repeat, let the hunters keep hunting and I have no further comment to make,” he said.

ACC director general Paulus Noa this week confirmed that they are investigating the tender but refused to reveal more details about the case.

MORE QUESTIONS

At the heart of the investigation is how Sankwasa and a former senior civil servant in the agriculture ministry secured the consultancy through an emergency procurement process.

Among the questions put to Sankwasa, the ACC asked who notified his company about the direct procurement, who sent the company instructions to bid and the bidding documents, and who contacted him to inform him of the emergency procurement.

The commission questioned Sankwasa on pricing discrepancies, asking how the total quoted amount of the direct bid was exactly N$4.6 million, while the total quoted amount of the emergency procurement bid was N$4.9 million.

The commission wanted to know who prepared and completed the bid, who sent Sankwasa the offer and procurement contract, and whether Cha-Cha-Cha Management had previously rendered services to the agriculture ministry.

The ACC asked Sankwasa to provide the names of consultants employed by Cha-Cha-Cha Management, and to indicate who is responsible for the company’s daily operations and administration. The Namibian reported last year that Cha-Cha-Cha Management hired Stefanus Niikondo, the agriculture ministry’s former deputy director of human resources, to carry out duties similar to those he performed before retiring in July 2024.

Niikondo was a student of Sankwasa at the then Polytechnic of Namibia. Both Niikondo and Sankwasa denied any wrongdoing.

The ACC also asked whether Cha-Cha-Cha Management was contracted to conduct consultancy services generally or specifically to facilitate the absorption of agronomist and engineering services employees into the ministry.

Sankwasa was further asked whether the contract between Cha-Cha-Cha Management and the ministry was still in force or had expired.

SANKWASA RESPONDS

Sankwasa, in a letter written last year, said he was puzzled that the direct procurement was being investigated and publicised by the ACC, despite his company having been appointed in the same manner at other ministries and government institutions.

“This makes one wonder as to the real cause of the investigation and publicity. I find this investigation to be suspect and possibly conceived by ulterior motives, considering that I publicly criticised the ACC and its director, soon after which I was investigated by the ACC,” he told the ACC.

Sankwasa says the ACC has an agenda because he publicly called out its director general for not acting on some corruption cases.

In his response, Sankwasa says emergency procurement, by its nature, requires assignments to be prioritised and executed with extreme urgency, which attracts higher costs than direct procurement conducted under normal circumstances.

“It is normal business practice for a professional whose services are procured on an emergency basis to charge higher than how one charges under normal circumstances,” he wrote to the ACC in September.

“This is because more time and resources must be invested in the prompt execution of the assignment,” he says.

Sankwasa says it was not unlawful for the company to increase its bid under a different procurement method. He adds that Cha-Cha-Cha Management had previously rendered consultancy services to the ministry in 2021, focusing on the management of misconduct and disciplinary procedures.

“This was a direct procurement,” he says.

Sankwasa says further work was undertaken from 7 to 11 March 2022 and again from 14 to 18 March that year. “All were direct procurements,” he says.

He maintains that there is no law preventing Cha-Cha-Cha Management from contracting a retired ministry employee with relevant expertise.

Sankwasa says the contract was due to terminate on 11 June 2025.

“However, the ACC seized computers and laptops of employees of the ministry … intervening with the completion of the project,” he says.

He adds that the Agribusdev manager also failed to cooperate with consultants, causing further delays.

“As a result, the ministry extended the contract from 12 June to 11 September 2025,” he says.

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