By Roland Routh
WINDHOEK – The Roads Contractor Company’s acting CEO Dr Pieter Oosthuizen was in the news again for the past weeks for all the wrong reasons.
But a well-placed source at the parastatal this time around accused the embattled CEO of cementing his position at RCC by getting rid of those opposed to him.
The source accuses Oosthuizen together with the Board Chairperson Sonia Bergh and the General Manager: Human Capital Management and Safety, Joyce Mukubi, of outsourcing most of the key functions of the company.
The very important position of GM Finance, who was also in charge of IT, was outsourced to Ernst & Young, who are supposedly contracted to investigate claims of irregularities by the board and Oosthuizen.
RCC insiders say this was done to protect Oosthuizen and the board as they are the ones supposed to be investigated.
New Era has seen correspondence between Oosthuizen and Company Secretary, Lena Kangandjela, as well as between Oosthuizen and Gerson Karaerua, the GM Business Development, Properties and Corporate Services.
According to the correspondence, Oosthuizen wants to outsource the portfolio of corporate services.
New Era is in possession of a draft advert for an expression of interest for public relations supposed to run in newspapers for November with a closing date of November 26.
New Era could not verify whether the tender was advertised.
What New Era could verify was that the advertisement for a new CEO was only published in the Southern Times edition for November 21 to 29 with a closing date of December 05.
According to the source this was done to give Oosthuizen the chance to apply for the position unopposed.
The previous advertisement garnered three applications, but it was cancelled as Oosthuizen scored lower than the other applicants in the interviews, the source claimed.
One of the people that were illegally suspended by Oosthuizen and the board, since October 14 on full pay is Leilanie Hochobeb, without being charged to date, and who holds the position of Head: Internal Audit and Risk Management.
Sources claimed she was suspended when she reported financial and other irregularities implicating the board, and her responsibilities have been outsourced to Ernst & Young and her laptop also confiscated.
The suspension of Hochobeb has resulted in Sonia Bergh, RCC Chairperson, stating to the Windhoek Observer newspaper last week Friday that Hochobeb was suspended to protect her, the source alleged.
The question is from whom is Hochobeb protected and how is her life in danger.
And if that is the case, our source asked, why has Hochobeb assembled an impressive and highly paid legal team, led by Frans Kwala to protect her from the same board claiming it is simply protecting her.
By suspending and confiscating key employees’ laptops, Oosthuizen now fully controls the portfolio of Hochobeb which is audit, risk and forensic, as well as other executive key functions such as legal, information technology, finance, properties, marketing and business development.
Oosthuizen is accused of a military style of leadership and that he does not consult any of the managers, but barks orders.
The source told New Era RCC is clearly in a crisis and with an upcoming strike countrywide and the questions are many such as how can this be allowed and who will take responsibility when the company suffers irreparable damage.
RCC recently managed to ward off a nationwide strike through a High Court interdict.
The union representing RCC employees, the Public Service Union of Namibia (PSUN), has until March 03, 2015 to show cause why the interdict to prevent them from striking should not be made final.
The suspended executives are earning millions in salary packages and fringe benefits, and now RCC is also paying for outsourced services.
This results in double payments and RCC’s financial problems are widely known, the source stated.
Claims are that the application for Oosthuizen’s work permit and permanent residency was approved by either the line minister of the RCC, Erkki Nghimtina, and or the RCC Board.
Efforts to get clarity from Nghimtina proved fruitless as he failed to answer his phone and did not return messages.
The source, who questioned Oosthuizen’s “untouchable” status, suspects Oosthuizen is being protected.
The very same Oosthuizen was recently appointed as Chairperson of TransNamib Board, and subsequently suspended the CEO Sara Naanda, and outsourced her work to a questionably appointed RMB executive, the source said and asked, “What is the relationship between RMB, RCC, TransNamib and Oosthuizen?”
Our source claimed that Oosthuizen has only been allowed a Namibian work permit to perform the duties of GM: Revenue Services at RCC and that his contract came to an end in November, but was extended.
RCC is currently paying the salary of its duly appointed CEO, Engelhard Haihambo, as well as Oosthuizen’s recently published salary which is in violation of the Government Gazetted guidelines for salary perks at state owned enterprises, the source said and claimed that Oosthuizen’s salary is even better than that of a minister.
Oosthuizen and the board of RCC were summoned to the office of Nghimtina last week Friday for a hastily scheduled meeting with the Windhoek Observer over an article it featured, but that meeting was waylaid by Oosthuizen and held in the RCC boardroom, New Era was reliably informed.
At that meeting the devil was apparently on the loose with Oosthuizen refusing to answer questions fielded by the Windhoek Observer reporter and the reporter shown the door when she would not back down, New Era has learnt.”
According to New Era’s source at RCC there was never a comprehensive reference check made on Oosthuizen to verify his credentials.
The CV of Oosthuizen is guarded better than a state secret and the only sure thing is that he has a PhD from a Christian African American University in the USA.
Oosthuizen’s credentials are further rather vague about his whereabouts between the late seventies and late eighties with it making various claims of him being involved in engineering projects in Africa, East Asia and Europe, New Era was informed.
Enquiries made at RCC as to how he became involved with the parastatal indicated that he was introduced to them by a recruitment company, which was not identified.
Efforts to get comment from Oosthuizen and Bergh proved fruitless as neither answered their work mobile phones and were said to be on leave.