A LETTER signed by Founding President Sam Nujoma on 24 November 1993 proves that former Minister of Agriculture (now Rally for Democracy and Progress member of parliament) Anton von Wietersheim was fired.
Nujoma’s senior special assistant John Nauta claimed on Monday that von Wietersheim was not sacked but resigned as minister on his own volition. Von Wietersheim told an RDP information session at Swakopmund last Saturday that he was fired by Nujoma because he tried to fight corruption.
“The ugly cancer of corruption started rearing its head soon after independence, and it was growing unabated under the leadership of former President Sam Nujoma. When it crept up in my ministry, I took steps against the culprit and that resulted in a fallout with Nujoma, which in turn resulted in my sacking as minister towards the end of 1993,” he said.
Naute described Von Wietersheim’s claim as “the joke of the day”.
“He cannot say he was sacked by Nujoma. If there was any sacking, then it would have been a Cabinet decision,” Nauta said, in comments carried by The Namibian yesterday.
An official letter (Ref No: 23/1/9) signed by Nujoma, of which The Namibian has a copy, reads: “By virtue of the powers vested in me by … the Constitution, I have decided to relieve you, with immediate effect, from all duties and responsibilities of Minister of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development”.
“As senior special assistant to the former President, one would expect Mr Nauta to know his President and the country’s history,” von Wietersheim said in response to Nauta’s public comment.
Nauta yesterday (Tuesday) claimed that he never spoke to The Namibian and asked where this newspaper got its information from, and when it was mentioned that it was a Nampa article published in The Namibian, he said that the Nampa reporter never informed him that the article would be carried in The Namibian.
“So what is your problem?” he said when told about the letter. “If you walk out of Cabinet, you have made a decision already. You fire yourself. Cabinet does not just consist of Nujoma.”
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