WINDHOEK – The dust appears to be far from settling between a dismissed senior COSDEC staffer Willemina Mberira and the management of the Centres of the Community Skills Development Foundation (COSDEF), stemming from a disciplinary hearing in which the former head of COSDEC in the Omaheke Region, Willemina Mberira, was found guilty of misconduct on several charges.
Mberira maintains the charges are unproven and unsubstantiated. Among the charges leveled against Mberira is the alleged misuse of company assets, dishonesty, insubordination, gross negligence and unauthorized leave of absence. A disciplinary hearing that took place in Swakopmund on November 4, 5 and 16 2013, found the former Omaheke Region COSDEC head guilty of misuse of company assets, in that on or about August 23, 2013 in Windhoek she unlawfully permitted a third party to operate a vehicle with the registration number N14685S and that she permitted the vehicle to be operated after the hour of 17h00 and under false pretences also obtained a trip authority to Windhoek.
It is further charged that Mberira failed to follow standing instructions and procedures by failing to secure parking space for the vehicle, operating the vehicle during weekends without permission and failing to keep the vehicle logbook resulting in 7 599 kilometres being unaccounted for as per the vehicle tracking system.
The third charge is that she was dishonest and did not follow the right procedures when she appointed a part-time instructor for hospitality and food preparation and also provided incorrect dates for payment purposes. Mberira is also charged with fraud in that she on August 1-19, 2013 unlawfully or without following correct financial procedures purchased goods worth N$5 755.51 at Gobabis Spar. In yet another charge, she is accused of gross negligence when she allegedly failed to report to management that three sewing machines and other inventory items were stolen and that the company on behalf of which she requested payment did not transport goods from Wennie du Plessis to the new premises. Mberira is further accused of being absent from work without permission on August 27, 2013.
Mberira’s representative, John Davis of Wise Life Labour Consultancy, argued in submission that the initiator produced no real evidence, like a photo or a witness, that the said vehicle was driven by a third party. According to him Mberira had a valid trip authority permit and that the accused was apparently informed by the Human Resources and Administration Manager, Rene Farmer, that once a trip authority is granted to a staff member, that staff member is allowed to use the vehicle after hours when they are not at their duty station. “Oddly, we note with grave concern that the said vehicle was confiscated from the accused (at) 18h30 by Mr Limbo on the arbitrary instructions of Ms Farmer, while the accused had a valid trip authority signed on 22nd August 2013,” the submission document read. On the accusation that Mberira failed to secure parking for the vehicle, Davis said that the claim was frivolous or laughable, since the HR Manager had granted the accused permission to park the vehicle at her private residential address and to move with the vehicle to and from work. He said the accused was awaiting a decision from Wennie du Plessis High School board management to secure parking for the vehicle and that when they moved offices to the new centre, Mberira realized that she could not risk the safety of the vehicle.
Davis further argued that insofar as the charge of failing to keep the vehicle logbook updated resulting in 7 599 km being unaccounted for the exhibits provided showed all trips were authorized. He also argued that not submitting log sheets will amount to suspension of vehicle usage, but nowhere in the company policy does it state a requirement for monthly, quarterly or yearly submissions of logbooks to the support unit office. Davis wrote in his submission that no proper advice or guidelines or policy for temporal staff could be produced as evidence that the accused person’s conduct towards management was dishonest or alternatively unreasonable and unlawful when she appointed a part-time instructor. “Therefore, no standing rules known to the accused were violated,” according to Davis.
To the count on alleged unlawful purchase of goods worth N$5 755.51 at Gobabis Spar, Mberira’s representative maintained permission was granted to the accused and to the hospitality instructor to buy the items needed on credit at the Gobabis COSDEC centre. On the count of gross negligence where three sewing machines were lost, Davis said that there is evidence the COSDEC office was broken into and two sewing machines were stolen. “Since that date, those machines were not accounted for and no case registered in that regard,” he argued, adding that the third sewing machine was recorded missing, but then resurfaced mysteriously in COSDEC inventories. “How does the initiator now explain away such a discrepancy?” he asked.
On the last count Mberira was absent from work without leave Davis argued Mberira called Farmer around 07h00 from Windhoek to query the release of the vehicle so she could make it to Gobabis, but Farmer went on the offensive and demanded that she be at her work station.
Mberira apparently informed Farmer about her private engagements and that she would take unpaid leave for the day. Davis argued that the hearing was drastically uncalled for in light of the suspect evidence.
By Magreth Nunuhe