Tubusis school builder rejects poor work claims

The main contractor accused of slowing down a government school project at Tubusis village in the Erongo region has pushed back, citing unpaid funds, design errors and logistical challenges.

The #Oe !Gab Primary School project construction, which began in 2022 at the cost of N$77 million with a completion date initially envisioned for August 2024, has yet to be completed.

Radial Truss Industries, the main contractor, was dismissed and ordered to vacate the site by the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture in February, citing poor workmanship.

Managing director Lamek Kweenda calls this unlawful, warning that terminating a contract while more than 90% of the work is complete risks delaying delivery of the remaining facilities.

Court documents seen by The Namibian state that progress stood at 90% as of February, with hostels, staff housing and essential services already handed over and operational by early February.

The region’s education director, Stephanus Enfriede, also confirmed in January that most of the facilities were complete and handed over for pupils to return to the school.

Kweenda rejects accusations of delays, saying they surfaced when five out of the seven subcontractors withdrew from the project due to rising costs linked to Covid-19, the Ukraine war, and prolonged procurement timelines.

This, he says, forced his company to take over multiple roles, stretching resources and increasing workload.

“The contractor made massive losses with some items costing up to six times more than the original prices.

A power line under Deka Consulting Engineers supervision had to be redesigned after it was found to be under-designed, and a wrongly designed transformer by the electrical engineers rejected by Erongored had to be re-ordered,” he explains.

He says special tiles ordered from Italy last June were only delivered in February.

Deka Consulting Engineers could not comment, saying the matter is at court.
Kweenda says the project site also played a role.

“The contractor had to ship water over a 62km distance from Usakos for two years at the cost of N$807 796 due to drought, which was declared a national emergency.

Tubusis lies in a very dry area and ground water depleted. This resulted in trucks repeatedly breaking down and delaying the project further,” he says.

“Flooding between February and July 2025 further disrupted progress,”

As at the date of notice to vacate, the contractor calculated that more than 20% of fees for services were pending.

Kweenda maintains that had the full payment been made, the project would have been completed.

“A monthly payment valuation was skipped in December due to the project agent and a quantity surveyor being absent, which resulted in no cash flow for the month,” he says.

Enfriede earlier this month said tents were arranged to serve as a temporary dining kitchen.

Deputy executive director for finance Knox Imbuwa, during a parliamentary standing committee meeting last week, said the ministry now has to find remedial measures to identify an entity with the capacity to finish the work.

However, Kweenda says appointing a new contractor at this stage will most likely triple the remaining costs.

“It has been a worry and we have been lenient with the contractor, but we have reached the point where we say he needs to stop.

We are, through our attorney general, fighting him to leave the site,” Imbuwa said.

“The ruling has not been made whether we will succeed in taking him offsite.

This has been a complexion of majority of our projects. We try to manage them, but the litigation risk is always hindering,” he added.

The final court date is set for 18 May, and will determine whether Radial Truss will continue or permanently vacate the site.

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