Tjihumino launches a legal challenge to ‘illegal’ suspension

THE suspended Chairman of the Government Institutions Pension fund, Maru Tjihumino, is challenging his suspension as Accountant General of the Ministry of Finance, his lawyers said yesterday.

In a letter addressed to Finance Permanent Secretary Calle Schlettwein and copied to the media, Tjihumino’s lawyer, Richard Metcalfe, argued that Tjihumino’s suspension was illegal as the letter notifying him of his suspension failed to mention any specific act of misconduct. Schlettwein last week said Tjihumino was suspended without pay because of massive losses recorded at the GIPF, mostly in its Development Capital Portfolio.Tjihumino earlier recused himself from all GIPF Board meetings after allegations surfaced that he had used his position to obtain a share in the Swakopmund Waterfront Development Company as a condition for a N$100 million loan from the GIPF.In another letter from Metcalfe to Acting Chairman of the GIPF board, Hartmut Ruppel, also copied to the media, Metcalfe said media reports had linked Tjihumino to disastrous business conducted by the GIPF’s DCP before his appointment as Chairman.He said that Tjihumino had only joined the Finance Ministry and the GIPF in 2002, from which point he had placed a moratorium on all new DCP loans and implemented various turn-around strategies for those loans on GIPF books.Linking Tjihumino to the losses at the GIPF was “devoid of truth and appears to be a witch-hunt aimed at further character assassination of our client”, Metcalfe warned.Tjihumino was therefore challenging the suspension in terms of Section 26 (2) (a) of the Public Service Act (Act 13 of 1995), Metcalfe warned Ruppel.He noted that such a suspension was only necessary when a staff member could interfere or tamper with witnesses or evidence.Schlettwein could not be immediately reached for comment.* Meanwhile, Anna Hange has objected to yesterday’s report, which she understood as linking her to Sepiolite Production (Pty) Ltd, which obtained a N$10 million loan from the GIPF.She only dealt with Sepiolite as a member of the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s revolving Minerals Development Fund (MDF), Hange said.Sepiolite also obtained a N$5 million loan from the MDF, it has been established.In fact, the report linked Hange to the failed Uri //Khubis abattoir of Aaron Mushimba because of her directorship in the Omaheke Tannery and Leather Production Company, which obtained a N$20 million loan from the DCP.Hange declined to comment further on this aspect.She said it was the responsibility of the then MD, thought to be Mushimba’s right-hand man Coen Wium, to comment on that loan.Wium could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587Schlettwein last week said Tjihumino was suspended without pay because of massive losses recorded at the GIPF, mostly in its Development Capital Portfolio.Tjihumino earlier recused himself from all GIPF Board meetings after allegations surfaced that he had used his position to obtain a share in the Swakopmund Waterfront Development Company as a condition for a N$100 million loan from the GIPF.In another letter from Metcalfe to Acting Chairman of the GIPF board, Hartmut Ruppel, also copied to the media, Metcalfe said media reports had linked Tjihumino to disastrous business conducted by the GIPF’s DCP before his appointment as Chairman.He said that Tjihumino had only joined the Finance Ministry and the GIPF in 2002, from which point he had placed a moratorium on all new DCP loans and implemented various turn-around strategies for those loans on GIPF books.Linking Tjihumino to the losses at the GIPF was “devoid of truth and appears to be a witch-hunt aimed at further character assassination of our client”, Metcalfe warned. Tjihumino was therefore challenging the suspension in terms of Section 26 (2) (a) of the Public Service Act (Act 13 of 1995), Metcalfe warned Ruppel.He noted that such a suspension was only necessary when a staff member could interfere or tamper with witnesses or evidence.Schlettwein could not be immediately reached for comment.* Meanwhile, Anna Hange has objected to yesterday’s report, which she understood as linking her to Sepiolite Production (Pty) Ltd, which obtained a N$10 million loan from the GIPF.She only dealt with Sepiolite as a member of the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s revolving Minerals Development Fund (MDF), Hange said.Sepiolite also obtained a N$5 million loan from the MDF, it has been established.In fact, the report linked Hange to the failed Uri //Khubis abattoir of Aaron Mushimba because of her directorship in the Omaheke Tannery and Leather Production Company, which obtained a N$20 million loan from the DCP.Hange declined to comment further on this aspect.She said it was the responsibility of the then MD, thought to be Mushimba’s right-hand man Coen Wium, to comment on that loan.Wium could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.* John Grobler is a freelance journalist; 081 240 1587