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TransNamib executives face probe – The Namibian


THE executive director responsible for state-owned enterprises, Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati, says the TransNamib board should probe allegations of mismanagement and unauthorised actions taken by the company’s executives and employees.

These include claims of contravening the Procurement Act.

“When this draft came it was inconclusive. We had, in-house, decided that we needed them to investigate one of the matters further. For us to contract EY [Ernst & Young] again, we needed to ensure that we followed the procurement laws,” she said.

Nghipondoka-Robiati said the process to re-contract the firm has been dragging, however, they gave the report to former Transnamib board chairperson Lionel Mathews before he left the parastatal’s board.

The executive director told The Namibian the new board is set to get the report soon while they want answers after a month.

“We are in the process of giving them the report because we haven’t concluded the process with EY,” she added.

The ministry will this week notify EY that they will not continue with the process.

Nghipondoka-Robiati stated that the acting minister is not obliged to release the report, citing confidentiality.

The report EY compiled after an independent investigation shows that TransNamib’s current head Johny Smith and his executive team have not provided sufficient supporting evidence that proves the oversight and management of TransNamib would result in the envisaged turnaround of the entity.

The report cites manipulation of lease agreements, unauthorised bonuses paid to executives and an urgent need to renegotiate agreements.

The report states that the national railway operator did not comply with requirements of the Procurement Act when it entered into the agreement with a certain “TP”.

“It is apparent that TP has been given the opportunity to procure most of the required services, including the rolling stack (locomotives, wagons and support staff) to be able to move the bulk of the manganese transported on the Namibian rail network,” the report reads.

Based on the information provided to them by the executive for properties, Alynsia Platt, Ernst & Young did not find sufficient evidence to suggest that she followed prescribed procurement procedures.

“When she procured certain services for maintenance and/or upgrades to certain TN properties, the evidence found on the misrepresentation of revenue due and paid to TransNamib by ‘TP’ during the periods for which we were able to obtain appropriate supporting evidence [March 2021 up to November 2021],” the report reads.

Ernst & Young further states that based on the extent of misrepresentations found and inconsistencies noted, it is also unable to place any reliance on ‘TP’ ‘s reported volumes (transported by rail), especially in the absence of appropriate controls or any independent verification.

EY also questioned whether this “TP” paid value-added tax that was raised over to the Namibia Revenue Agency, as required on their invoicing and deductions from the relevant revenue due to TransNamib.

This company is also accused of operating with an expired environmental clearance certificate since 5 February 2022.

“We have not been able to obtain any documentary evidence to suggest that an application for renewal has been submitted to or granted by the environmental commissioner, which is a cause for concern and a matter that could impact on the sustainability of TransNamib’s business in this regard,” the report states.





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