Transport parastatal, employee sort out differences with cash

TRANSNAMIB has offered to pay a senior manager it dismissed in January last year close to N$500 000 in an out-of-court settlement reached yesterday.

Godhard !Howaeb was dismissed for absenteeism in what was seen as a witch-hunt against four senior managers at the transport parastatal. All of them took the company to court.Yesterday, the company agreed to pay !Howaeb N$460 000 and he agreed not to return to the parastatal.His position was made redundant while he was posted to serve on a special team which worked on a turn-around strategy called the Tanaura project.While he was at Tanaura, he and others were replaced with people alleged to be cronies of TransNamib CEO John Shaetonhodi and suspended General Manager Jason Hamunyela.Other senior managers who also took the company to court are Moses Mbai, Bernhardt !Gaeb and Erenfried ‘Tjivi’ Ndjoonduezu.Last year the Windhoek District Labour Court ordered the parastatal to pay N$468 200 to !Gaeb but TransNamib appealed against the order and the case is still dragging on in the courts.In May, the District Labour Court ordered TransNamib to reinstate Ndjoonduezu and to backdate his salary to December 2004.In addition, the company was ordered to refund his study fees, pay him a three-month salary for damages incurred during the suspension and money deducted illegally from his salary.TransNamib appealed against that outcome too and the matter was referred to the High Court where an appeal hearing is still pending.Last month the company was also ordered to reinstate Mbai, which they did.Although Mbai has not resumed work there, he received his first salary at the end of last month while the company was creating a new position for him.In the meantime, suspended General Manager Jason Hamunyela, who was key to the sacking of the senior managers, is awaiting the outcome of his disciplinary hearing which was concluded early this month.Hamunyela was suspended with full pay almost a year ago on charges of private dealings and favouritism, and his disciplinary hearing was finalised when the Chairperson, Elize Angula, heard the last arguments.Angula has since communicated the outcome of the hearing to the board of the transport parastatal for action.Hamunyela’s suspension followed a report presented to the TransNamib board by the Office of the Ombudsman.The report, subsequently included in the report of the Office of the Ombudsman to the National Assembly, said Hamunyela made huge overpayments to a security company in which he had interests.It said further that company “policies or procedures were not observed by mainly a senior manager (Hamunyela)”.”This manager’s unprofessional conduct caused staff members to become disloyal and disheartened,” the report said.All of them took the company to court.Yesterday, the company agreed to pay !Howaeb N$460 000 and he agreed not to return to the parastatal.His position was made redundant while he was posted to serve on a special team which worked on a turn-around strategy called the Tanaura project.While he was at Tanaura, he and others were replaced with people alleged to be cronies of TransNamib CEO John Shaetonhodi and suspended General Manager Jason Hamunyela.Other senior managers who also took the company to court are Moses Mbai, Bernhardt !Gaeb and Erenfried ‘Tjivi’ Ndjoonduezu.Last year the Windhoek District Labour Court ordered the parastatal to pay N$468 200 to !Gaeb but TransNamib appealed against the order and the case is still dragging on in the courts.In May, the District Labour Court ordered TransNamib to reinstate Ndjoonduezu and to backdate his salary to December 2004. In addition, the company was ordered to refund his study fees, pay him a three-month salary for damages incurred during the suspension and money deducted illegally from his salary.TransNamib appealed against that outcome too and the matter was referred to the High Court where an appeal hearing is still pending.Last month the company was also ordered to reinstate Mbai, which they did.Although Mbai has not resumed work there, he received his first salary at the end of last month while the company was creating a new position for him.In the meantime, suspended General Manager Jason Hamunyela, who was key to the sacking of the senior managers, is awaiting the outcome of his disciplinary hearing which was concluded early this month.Hamunyela was suspended with full pay almost a year ago on charges of private dealings and favouritism, and his disciplinary hearing was finalised when the Chairperson, Elize Angula, heard the last arguments.Angula has since communicated the outcome of the hearing to the board of the transport parastatal for action.Hamunyela’s suspension followed a report presented to the TransNamib board by the Office of the Ombudsman.The report, subsequently included in the report of the Office of the Ombudsman to the National Assembly, said Hamunyela made huge overpayments to a security company in which he had interests.It said further that company “policies or procedures were not observed by mainly a senior manager (Hamunyela)”.”This manager’s unprofessional conduct caused staff members to become disloyal and disheartened,” the report said.