Chief Administrator of the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) Freddy Mwiya yesterday scored victory over sports minister Agnes Tjongarero after the High Court ordered that Mwiya’s employment contract be extended for another five years.
The legal tussle between Mwiya and Tjongarero stems from the previous NSC’s board of commissioners’ decision and recommendation that Mwiya’s contract be extended for another five years.
The previous board scored Mwiya a B for his overall performance as head of the organisation and subsequently recommended to minister Tjongarero that she endorses the extension of Mwiya’s contract until 2027.
However, Tjongarero refused to endorse the board’s recommendation and ordered that the position be publicly advertised for other interested Namibians to also apply. Mwiya’s original term of employment ended on 31 March 2022.
In turn, the board refused to implement the minister’s directives, and that led to their dismissal in May this year for insubordination and ignoring directives from the appointing authority as well as a directive from the office of the attorney general.
Mwiya then approached the courts for salvage, which ended up in an agreement that he will remain in his position as chief administrator until the court dispute is settled.
That agreement, which was made a court order, stipulated that Mwiya must accept the salary commensurate with first-tier state-owned enterprises.
Late yesterday, the High Court ordered Tjongarero to act within the confines of the law and renew/extend Mwiya’s employment contract effective 1 September 2022 until 31 August 2027.
The minister was also ordered to pay Mwiya’s legal costs.
– ohembapu@nepc.com.na