Nujoma movie bosses waver

THINGS yesterday turned nasty between the filmmakers of ‘Where Others Wavered’, with accusations of a hostile takeover, ‘stealing’ master copies of the film and refusing to hand over assets flying at a public hearing on the movie about Founding President Sam Nujoma’s life.

The sparks flew between the Namibia Film Commission (NFC) and the Pan-African Centre of Namibia (Pacon) when they were questioned by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts about thefinancial affairs of the NFC’s Film and Development from 2006 to 2008, through which the movie, later renamed as ‘Namibia: The Struggle for Independence’, was financed.The hearing, nearly as long as the movie and with just as much drama, once again left more questions unanswered than answered. Both Pacon producer Uazuva Kaumbi and NFC secretary Edwin Kanguatjivi wavered when committee chairman Usutuaije Maamberua asked how many people were employed by the project and how much money was paid into an account specifically open for the film. They couldn’t produce a forensic audit into the movie either.As far as taxpayers are concerned, their struggle to find out how much the movie cost in total, still continues. Neither Pacon, nor the NFC could give an indication. Budget documents, however, conservatively estimate the bill at between N$80 million and N$100 million.A frustrated Maamberua said the committee will brief Parliament on the hearing and then decide which steps to take next. In addition, Kaumbi also faces the committee’s wrath because he made fun of them in a column in the Windhoek Observer after a previous hearing.He wrote: ‘It is really school textbook stuff – the audit by the Auditor General (AG) was carried out of the Namibia Film Commission (NFC), and now Pacon is expected to answer the NFC queries. Hello!’Maamberua said the committee will decide what to do about the ‘textbook stuff’ reference.The committee was also irked by Pacon not paying over any income tax or social security contributions of staff temporarily employed during the movie shoot. Although Kaumbi and fellow producer Abius Akwaake insisted that this was normal practice in the industry, Maamberua said it was illegal.Kaumbi said that Pacon got an exemption from the Ministry of Finance, but couldn’t produce any correspondence in this regard. He said it would be ‘very difficult to get that letter’ as ‘it happened a long time ago’.The Committee was told that Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila expressed her concern about the tax issue, yet nothing was done. Pacon chairman Victor Tonchi’s passed the buck to the NFC, saying the centre was merely a ‘policy overseer’.The asset registered proved to be another bone of contention. Pacon insisted that they handed over all the assets bought to make the movie to the NFC. The commission denied this, saying that Pacon only gave them assets bought with NFC money. Assets bought with grant money, belong to Pacon, the centre apparently said.Pacon production consultant Carol Muller denied ever having such a conversation with NFC commissioner Anna Shivute. The assets were never officially signed off.The disputed assets have been locked in a container at Pacon since 2006, but nobody seems to have the keys.Pacon and the FNC were also at odds about the master copies of the movie. The FNC said they gave Pacon two master copies for benefit screenings, and that the centre refuses to return it.The FNC has even reported the matter to the police, after which Pacon apparently gave them two copied DVDs.Kaumbi accused the FNC of ‘keeping everything to themselves’ after the copyright was ceded to them. He claims the copies they received weren’t master copies and that was never an understanding that Pacon should return it.Kaumbi also accused the NFC of a ‘hostile takeover’ of Pacon. Kanguatjivi refuted this, saying that the NFC had to intervene because Pacon couldn’t raise the necessary funding for the movie.