President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has ordered a forensic investigation into a Swapo fishing company, as a boardroom ‘civil war’ intensifies over allegations of missing millions and a lack of transparency.
Gendev Fishing Resources and its sister company, Gendev Fishing Group, have been in the news for years over workers’ strikes and unpaid salaries.
But what was once a labour issue has now turned into a full-blown fight at the top of the company.
Businessman and deputy chairperson of the Swapo fishing company, Josef Andreas, on Monday on his WhatsApp status challenged those he branded “cowards” for alleging N$35 million had been stolen from the company.
“Ayee. They stole this money and that N$35 million and that N$5 millions [sic]. Come out and tell the world if it is true. Don’t be jealous cowards,” he posted.
The outburst comes a week after Andreas attended a high-stakes meeting at State House, convened by the president.
That meeting was called amid mounting concerns over the mismanagement of Swapo’s fishing companies and their subsidiaries and their failure to deliver fish worth over N$49 million to clients.
COMRADES AND FISH
Swapo’s commercial interests in the fishing sector has several layers.
At the top of the structure is Guinas Investments (Pty) Ltd, Swapo’s investment arm, which holds interests in several businesses.
In turn, Guinas Investments owns a 96.5% stake in Gendev Fishing Resources (Pty) Ltd, valued at about N$480 million. Gendev Fishing Resources operates as a management company, overseeing two fishing vessels, securing quotas and managing an onshore processing factory.
Gendev Fishing Resources in turn owns a 60% controlling stake in a joint venture known as Gendev Fishing Group, while 40% is owned by Eco Fishing Processors, a consortium of private business people who do not report to Swapo.
Gendev Fishing Resources also has a stake in Hodago Fishing, a joint venture with a consortium of private fishing companies.
Those fishing tentacles have now dragged the ruling party into various fishing businesses boardroom fights that has attracted the attention of the president and Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa.
THE PREAMBLE
The trouble at Gendev Fishing Group has been brewing for years.
One of the biggest standoffs was that private investors in Gendev Fishing Group, such as businessman and Namibia Football Association president Robert Shimooshili, former footballer Sandro de Gouveia and Nico Kaiyamo stopped contributing their fishing quotas to the company.
They complained they did not have access to Gendev Fishing Group’s financial statements and about a lack of transparency. They also complained that they did not get paid dividends.
Gendev Fishing Group relies on fishing quotas from its partners in the consortium. When 40% of the partners stopped supplying quotas, it affected their business.
On 21 August 2025, Gendev Fisheries Group chairperson Paulina Haindongo produced a company report recommending that the shareholders who own 40% in Gendev must pay back N$36 million.
The report, copied to Nandi-Ndaitwah and Shaningwa, says the payment was meant to compensate Gendev Fishing Group for the revenue lost due to its failure to provide its processing quota over the past three years – in an amount of N$280 million.
Haindongo in the report says the continued non-compliance of the 40% shareholder has placed a financial burden on Gendev Fishing Resources and the processing company Gendev Fishing Group, and threatens legal action.
This stand-off has been going on for years and had to be taken to State House.
STATE HOUSE MEETING
The president convened a meeting at State House, attended by around 12 people, on 12 May.
At the head of the table was Nandi-Ndaitwah, flanked by Shaningwa.
Across from them sat the Gendev board, represented by chairperson Paulina Haindongo, deputy chairperson Josef Andreas, along with Josef Katukula, Robert Shimooshili, Sandro de Gouveia, and Nico Kaiyamo.
Other representatives included Helmut Angula, the chairperson of Naras Investment and Kuiseb Fishing, and Ndeulipula Hamutumwa from Hodago.
Nandi-Ndaitwah kicked the meeting off by spending close to 40 minutes asking those in the room to introduce themselves.
“You are all my children, what is the problem?” she asked the directors, a source says.
Shaningwa then stepped in to set out why the meeting had been called. The gathering had been prompted by concerns over the management of the party’s fishing companies, she said.
“Comrade president, I come to you as my leader,” she told Nandi-Ndaitwah.
Shaningwa is understood to have raised the lack of transparency, telling the room that, unlike other Swapo-owned entities, she had been kept in the dark on the fishing operations and did not even have sight of their bank accounts. During the meeting, the president asked the delegation why Swapo’s company is failing while others are not. She told the directors to find a solution and to not retrench employees.
The Presidency yesterday told The Namibian the meeting was private.
“The engagement in question was a closed-door meeting,” presidential spokesperson Jonas Mbambo said.
Questions sent to Shaningwa were not answered.
A BOARD DIVIDED
One of the key fault lines runs through Gendev Fishing, where the board is split into two camps.
One faction includes chairperson Paulina Haindongo and her deputy, Andreas.
The other includes Shimooshili, De Gouveia, and Katukula who previously served in the Swapo Party Youth League’s regional structures.
Haindongo and Andreas are understood to view some of their fellow directors as working against the interests of the company.
During a tense exchange at State House, Haindongo is said to have turned directly on Katukula.
“You are always on the other side,” she told him.
She and Andreas reportedly characterised the opposing directors as “captured” by private interests in the fishing industry.
Katukula hit back, accusing some Gendev directors of running the company without transparency. “There is no democracy in the company,” he said, adding that directors who spoke out had been victimised by Haindongo and Andreas.
De Gouveia and other private partners complained they do not have access to financial accounts. They indicated they will not be happy surrendering their quotas given the lack of transparency.
Andreas yesterday denied the allegations against him, but referred questions to State House and Gendev’s chairperson.
During the same meeting, former fisheries minister Helmut Angula, who now runs his own fishing company, reportedly reminded the room that a generation of party cadres had been sent by founding president Sam Nujoma to study the fishing industry after independence so Swapo could build its own capacity in the sector.
To Angula, the ruling party’s current fishing arrangements echoed the “National Party doctrine” under which businesses had been deliberately structured to be complex, multilayered and opaque.
He then pressed the room on why Swapo’s footprint in the fishing industry needed to run through so many overlapping companies, and why the party kept entering into joint arrangements with private individuals rather than holding its interests directly. The structures, he suggested, were due for reform.
Questions sent to Angula were not answered.
CHAIRPERSON CONTEXT
Gendev’s chairperson, Haindongo, declined to comment on the State House meeting this week, but did comment on Gendev’s challenges.
She said the factory had to shut down from October 2025 up until 31 April, adding that the company was paying its 651 full-time workers from its reserves during this time and contemplated retrenchments.
“Workers were frustrated for not having to work for months and demonstrations were held. These were unforeseen circumstances that were beyond the control of the management and board. However, with the extension of the 150m isobath, the workers are back to work and the company is gradually recovering,” she said.
On allegations of financial mismanagement, Haindongo said: “I have not sat in any meeting where mismanagement of these figures were discussed, and if there is any evidence to this effect, it should be provided.”
She added: “Stolen money is reported to the police, which are open 24/7.”
She also confirmed that there is a difference of opinion at board level on governance, operations or strategic matters.
The Gendev chairperson denied suggestions that money came from their company to fund factional political campaigns.
“We deny allegations that the company bankrolled a presidential campaign, but even if this was true, the company is 96.5% owned by Swapo.”
On the issue of the contribution of fishing quota to the company, Haindongo said the joint venture is regulated by a shareholder’s agreement that stipulates that all parties should bring their quotas to be processed at Gendev.
“For those shareholders that have owed the company more than N$300 million in contributions and revenue loss . . . should reimburse the company or their shares will be diluted. They better put their payment plan in place, otherwise we will take their shares,” she said.
‘I CAN’T BE CAPTURED’
Responding to claims that he was ‘captured’, Shimooshili this week defended his role in the fishing sector, saying he has been in the industry since 2012.
“Fishing is my core business. I started in 2012,” he said.
He said directors seconded by Swapo are temporary, while his interests in the companies remain permanent.
“When you have directors in these fishing companies, they are seconded by Swapo, maybe for just three years, and after that they are replaced. That’s where maybe someone can be captured,” he said.
Shimooshili further denied involvement in politics regarding an alleged N$1 million donation to a Swapo campaign from a fishing company, saying his interest was in football.
“I can’t be involved in this. This is out of question. I am a football person and businessman.”
According to him, the meeting focused on preventing retrenchments.
“At Gendev Fishing Group we were thinking of retrenching workers, and the president said we should find a solution and not retrench people,” he said.
He added: “The million I want is for football, not to put into politics. Never.”
Shimooshili confirmed that he allocated his quota to Gendev Fishing Group.
“Those saying otherwise are just making up stories,” he said.
He said the company’s challenges were linked to poor catches rather than insufficient quotas.
Former Brave Warriors player turned businessman De Gouveia yesterday described the State House meeting as “a constructive and positive engagement”.
He admitted that there are issues in the company that need attention.
“It is correct that there are internal issues that require attention, including matters relating to governance, communication and access to information,” he said.
“My position is that all shareholders and directors should have access to the information necessary to make responsible decisions in the best interests of the company,” he said.
De Gouveia rejected the allegation that he was “captured” by private interests.
*This article was produced by The Namibian’s investigative unit. Send us story tips via your secure email to investigations@namibian.com.na
