The Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) has launched a search for a new chief executive officer (CEO) after its board of directors decided not to renew incumbent CEO Mwilima Mushokabanji’s contract.
The state-owned company has appointed Patrick Liebenberg as acting CEO for six months, or until a substantive head is hired.
This comes after Meatco published and withdrew a vacancy for the CEO position as the contract of Mushokabanji is set to end at the end of January.
Liebenberg, who will start from 1 February, is currently the executive for livestock procurement and production.
This was confirmed by board chairperson Sakaria Nghikembua on Friday afternoon.
Meatco’s human capital executive, Amorey Pote, on Thursday confirmed that a vacancy was published.
“I can confirm that the attached document is in fact authentic and was circulating on the Meatco LinkedIn page in December, after which it was removed,” she said.
The executive referred further questions to Nghikembua, who has not responded to messages or calls since last Monday. On Friday, he said the board would issue a statement soon.
When asked for an exact date, Nghikembua said: “It could be today (Friday) or Monday.”
The Namibian reported in August that a Cabinet resolution stated the decision not to renew Mushokabanji’s contract was contrary to its conditions for approving the Meatco board.
However, the Meatco board previously said it would not renew the contract.
At the time, both Cabinet secretary George Simataa and Nghikembua referred questions to minister of finance and public enterprises Iipumbu Shiimi.
When asked about the Cabinet resolution last week, Shiimi referred The Namibian to ministry spokesperson Wilson Shikoto.
Shikoto on Friday reiterated Shiimi’s earlier response that the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises is not the competent authority to talk about Cabinet decisions.
“The contract of the CEO position and the recruitment of the CEO position is being handled by the board and, therefore, any question in that regard should be directed to the board.”
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