Banner Left
Banner Right

Govt takeover of film urged ‘Wavered’ money woes worry Swapo youths

Govt takeover of film urged ‘Wavered’ money woes worry Swapo youths

THE Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) has called on the Ministries of Finance and Information and Broadcasting to take direct control of the production of the Nujoma movie ‘Where Others Wavered’.

The film project has been hounded by financial problems since before the start of principal filming in Windhoek on April 25. Addressing a press conference in Windhoek yesterday, SPYL Secretary for Information, Publicity and Mobilisation, Tjitunga Elijah Ngurare, said the Ministries should second staff to Pacon to take charge of the film’s finances.Ngurare said the SPYL had concerns about the three Pacon accountants working on the project.According to the SPYL, amounts ranging from N$750 000 to one million dollars were kept in the petty cash account.”We have been greatly disturbed to discover as part of our consultation that there existed financial irregularities and indications of financial improprieties in relation to how the monies of the movie was being spent and utilised,” Ngurare said.He said his organisation now called for “complete and absolute transparency, honesty, financial accountability, fairness in remuneration of staff and equality of treatment, especially regarding the local staff and for these principles to be adopted as guiding principles throughout the production of the film”.Citing questionable practices such as having N$750 000 to one million dollars in the petty cash account, Ngurare said noted that the project involved a considerable amount of Government money in a land where many young people found it extremely hard to make a living.For this reason, he emphasised, it was imperative that accountability was exercised in handling the money and that everyone was satisfied with the procedures.”We are not convinced at the moment,” he said.He said seconding a small Ministry of Finance team to take responsibility for keeping track of the project’s spending would be “a way of injecting some transparency and accountability” into the project.PRODUCER OPTIMISTIC Approached for comment, the Executive Producer of the film, Uazuva Kaumbi, said he knew of no study that showed a lack of capacity within his accounting department.Saying he did not want to get into a public debate with the Swapo Youth League, at least not until after he had studied yesterday’s statement, Kaumbi reserved further comment.However, he was eager to talk about the progress made with the filming over the past weekend.He said it was going very well, and that the cast and crew were back at work after a rest day was called on Monday.He expects that they might have completed some 75 per cent of the filming by Saturday or Sunday.Carl Lumbly, the American actor playing the role of Sam Nujoma, will only be available until July 22 when he will have to leave for other acting commitments, but Kaumbi said he expected that the scenes Lumbly is involved in will have been shot by that date.Kaumbi was adamant that, as far as meeting the photography deadlines are concerned, “for now it is do-able”.Initially, Government backed the project to the tune of N$15 million, on the understanding that the producers would use this as seed money with which to raise the rest of the funding needed.But in early May, a further N$1 million was provided to ease cash-flow problems before Government finally decided to provide the extra N$35 million needed.This brought the total burden on the taxpayer to N$51 million.MEDIA ATTACKED A spate of financial problems linked to the non-payment of cast and crew, as well as the non-payment of accommodation establishments, has halted filming on occasion and has also resulted in considerably pre-publicity for the movie about the life of former President Sam Nujoma.Despite the SPYL’s statement vindicating media reports on the problems besetting the movie, Ngurare yesterday also launched a scathing attack on local and international press coverage of the film project.He lambasted The Namibian, claiming: “We observe that the bulk of the negativity is from traditionally Namibian-based Eurocentric newspapers which appear to be a conduit for anti-Nujoma tirades spearheaded by Ms Gwendolyn Lister.”Therefore, in view of the aforesaid and notwithstanding the negative reporting on the film, during the course of last week, we conducted consultations with key stakeholders involved in the making of the film ‘Where Others Wavered’ with a view to understand the source of the negative reporting on the film.”Those involved in the project who have spoken to The Namibian were not spared either.”These unpatriotic moles are responsible for leaking internal information to her tabloid Eurocentric newspaper,” he claimed.Despite its scathing critique of the handling of the movie, the Swapo youth wing said it still firmly supported the film project.Ngurare said “it is a film which tells our history, the history of the suffering and downtrodden masses of this land, and it is for the first time that this particular story is being told from our perspective and by our own people, including those Africans from the Diaspora.”Addressing a press conference in Windhoek yesterday, SPYL Secretary for Information, Publicity and Mobilisation, Tjitunga Elijah Ngurare, said the Ministries should second staff to Pacon to take charge of the film’s finances.Ngurare said the SPYL had concerns about the three Pacon accountants working on the project.According to the SPYL, amounts ranging from N$750 000 to one million dollars were kept in the petty cash account.”We have been greatly disturbed to discover as part of our consultation that there existed financial irregularities and indications of financial improprieties in relation to how the monies of the movie was being spent and utilised,” Ngurare said.He said his organisation now called for “complete and absolute transparency, honesty, financial accountability, fairness in remuneration of staff and equality of treatment, especially regarding the local staff and for these principles to be adopted as guiding principles throughout the production of the film”. Citing questionable practices such as having N$750 000 to one million dollars in the petty cash account, Ngurare said noted that the project involved a considerable amount of Government money in a land where many young people found it extremely hard to make a living.For this reason, he emphasised, it was imperative that accountability was exercised in handling the money and that everyone was satisfied with the procedures.”We are not convinced at the moment,” he said.He said seconding a small Ministry of Finance team to take responsibility for keeping track of the project’s spending would be “a way of injecting some transparency and accountability” into the project. PRODUCER OPTIMISTIC Approached for comment, the Executive Producer of the film, Uazuva Kaumbi, said he knew of no study that showed a lack of capacity within his accounting department.Saying he did not want to get into a public debate with the Swapo Youth League, at least not until after he had studied yesterday’s statement, Kaumbi reserved further comment.However, he was eager to talk about the progress made with the filming over the past weekend.He said it was going very well, and that the cast and crew were back at work after a rest day was called on Monday.He expects that they might have completed some 75 per cent of the filming by Saturday or Sunday.Carl Lumbly, the American actor playing the role of Sam Nujoma, will only be available until July 22 when he will have to leave for other acting commitments, but Kaumbi said he expected that the scenes Lumbly is involved in will have been shot by that date.Kaumbi was adamant that, as far as meeting the photography deadlines are concerned, “for now it is do-able”.Initially, Government backed the project to the tune of N$15 million, on the understanding that the producers would use this as seed money with which to raise the rest of the funding needed.But in early May, a further N$1 million was provided to ease cash-flow problems before Government finally decided to provide the extra N$35 million needed.This brought the total burden on the taxpayer to N$51
million. MEDIA ATTACKED A spate of financial problems linked to the non-payment of cast and crew, as well as the non-payment of accommodation establishments, has halted filming on occasion and has also resulted in considerably pre-publicity for the movie about the life of former President Sam Nujoma.Despite the SPYL’s statement vindicating media reports on the problems besetting the movie, Ngurare yesterday also launched a scathing attack on local and international press coverage of the film project.He lambasted The Namibian, claiming: “We observe that the bulk of the negativity is from traditionally Namibian-based Eurocentric newspapers which appear to be a conduit for anti-Nujoma tirades spearheaded by Ms Gwendolyn Lister.”Therefore, in view of the aforesaid and notwithstanding the negative reporting on the film, during the course of last week, we conducted consultations with key stakeholders involved in the making of the film ‘Where Others Wavered’ with a view to understand the source of the negative reporting on the film.”Those involved in the project who have spoken to The Namibian were not spared either.”These unpatriotic moles are responsible for leaking internal information to her tabloid Eurocentric newspaper,” he claimed.Despite its scathing critique of the handling of the movie, the Swapo youth wing said it still firmly supported the film project.Ngurare said “it is a film which tells our history, the history of the suffering and downtrodden masses of this land, and it is for the first time that this particular story is being told from our perspective and by our own people, including those Africans from the Diaspora.”

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News