Shaningwa defends NHE appointments

URBAN minister Sophia Shaningwa said the three managers at the National Housing Enterprise who wanted the chief executive job were not suitable for the position.

The minister also revealed that there is an ongoing investigation into the affairs of the parastatal.

“The board could not appoint any of the three senior managers because they were not found to be suitable. If they were suitable in the first place, then the country wouldn’t be in the current unhealthy housing status today,” Shaningwa said in the National Assembly on Thursday.

The minister made these remarks when she answered questions by Rally for Democracy and Progress member of parliament Mike Kavekotora, who was also a former NHE chief executive before former parastatal boss Vinson Hailulu took over in 2005.

The NHE board, headed by chairperson Sam Shivute, appointed Okahao Town Council chief executive officer Gisbertus Mukulu in July this year as the NHE chief executive.

That decision angered several senior managers, including NHE’s property management manager Uazuva Kaumbi, who felt that he deserved the chance to be interviewed for the job.

Besides Kaumbi, NHE’s business development manager Willem Titus also dragged the parastatal to court about the board decision to appoint board member Elton !Gaoseb to act as chief executive last year. New Era reported last month that the High Court concluded on 29 July that the NHE violated its own laws when the board of directors appointed one of its own as acting chief executive. The court said the board’s decision to appoint !Gaoseb was invalid, and ordered the NHE and !Gaoseb to pay the costs of the application, jointly, the news report said. Shaningwa insisted that her involvement in the appointment of a board member to act as NHE boss was needed. “My involvement in the appointment of an acting CEO, who at the same time is a board member, was done and agreed upon because it was important for the new board and a new minister to have a breakthrough, and I see no sin in doing that,” she stated. Shaningwa, a former NHE employee herself, said no position was reserved for the aggrieved senior managers. “No position was ever reserved for these managers, hence none should claim eligibility if they were not approached to act as CEO,” she added. According to her, it is her prerogative to take corrective measures if circumstances demand so.

“It should be understood that I am the captain, and I am not prepared to comfortably look at the NHE sinking,” she said. Shaningwa said the NHE had to be defended. “If you were also honest about what you’re seeing now in various regions as a result of what I term administrative negligence, then surely you would ask these types of questions. Coupled with that, you and I as ex-employees of NHE are supposed to be sympathetic and support the decision by the board,” she noted. The minister insisted that “it was a collective decision, and the consciences of those who acted and took the said decision were very clear and progressive.”

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