RDP candidate Kavekotora booted by TransNamib

TRANSNAMIB has forced out its General Manager for Marketing and Sales, Mike Kavekotora, because he is standing for election in the November polls.

Although the company said yesterday that Kavekotora was deemed to have resigned from TransNamib with effect from the date he accepted nomination as candidate of the Rally for Democracy and Progress, Kavekotora was adamant that he had not resigned but was fired.’That’s a lie. I was constructively dismissed. I will not leave it here … I am consulting my lawyers,’ Kavekotora told The Namibian yesterday afternoon. Ailly Hangula-Paulino, Chief Corporate Communications Officer at TransNamib, said Kavekotora applied for unpaid leave to pursue a political career but the company looked at its policies.She said the contract Kavekotora signed stipulates that all other policies and procedures not included in his contract of employment and applicable to all staff of TransNamib will apply to him. One such policy is the Standard Practice Procedure, which has a clause on TransNamib employees and public office.It states that any TransNamib employee who accepts nomination as candidate for the National Assembly or Regional Council ‘shall be deemed to have resigned from the employ of TransNamib with effect from the date of such appointment or acceptance of such nomination’.It also states that employees who accept nomination for election as members of local authority councils shall be deemed to be on unpaid leave from the day of accepting such nomination until the day on which the election results are made known.Such employees must ensure that their duties as a council member do not interfere with their work.They can also be granted vacation leave with full pay if their duties as councillor prevent them from reporting for duty.The policy provides for leave without pay to employees who serve on local authorities and who do not have any vacation leave to their credit.Kavekotora said it was true that he applied for two months’ leave to campaign but the company used the old (1993) SSP instead of the one of 1999 which entitled him to leave and states that he should only resign once he was elected to office.’But the board was convinced otherwise and accepted the company’s recommendation,’ he said.Kavekotora is number 16 on the RDP party list. He was number one on party president Hidipo Hamutenya’s list of candidates. He was appointed General Marketing for Marketing by TransNamib Chief Executive Officer Titus Haimbili last year. When Haimbili was suspended, Kavekotora was acting in his place for about 10 months.

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