WALVIS BAY – The newly appointed CEO of Erongo Red, Tino !Hanabeb, says he is eager to provide much-needed leadership and guidance to the embattled institution.
!Hanabeb resumed duty Wednesday morning at the electricity distributor’s head office where he was welcomed by the board members and employees.
He arrived with a sizeable entourage that included his pastor, mother, siblings and wife as his “support system”.
He assumed the position despite one of the board members, Irene Simeon-Kurtz, calling upon her fellow directors to nullify his appointment.
Simeon Kurtz was not present when !Hanabeb arrived at Erongo Red.
According to !Hanabeb, his first day was rewarding and challenging seeing that he touched base with the leadership and employees.
“Human capital is the most important component of our organisation, hence, I want to focus on them first and harness their power and knowledge,” he said.
!Hanabeb also added that he will have to acquaint himself with the policies and regulations of the institution before he tackles any challenge.
“I definitely would like us to improve on the provision of electricity for the whole region, continue rolling out the existing projects and initiatives while at the same time explore how we can reduce costs. !Hanabeb was appointed as CEO after the five-year term of Fessor Mbango ended on 30 April this year.
However, Mbango approached the labour court in a bid to be reappointed.
According to court documents, Mbango has been disadvantaged by Erongo Red’s continuous unlawful actions while the matter is pending before the court.
“The above unlawful actions resulted in the applicant lodging an urgent interim interdict to restrain Erongo Red to continue with the recruitment process,” the document filed in the labour court on 17 May reads.
Meanwhile, one of the board members said Mbango was notified in time that his contract will not be renewed and that if he wants the position should rather apply and go through the recruitment process.
Claude Tjizo, who was the acting CEO before !Hanabeb, in a statement on Monday, said Erongo Red strives to operate in line with good corporate governance principles and will not be commenting on the
saga.
“Fixed-term contracts for CEOs are a common practice in most companies and is not unique to Erongo Red,” he explained.
Meanwhile, an employment contract between Erongo Red and Mbango states that Erongo Red may upon the expiry of the agreed fixed term contract, in its sole discretion offer to renew this contract of employment.
“Such offer for the renewal of this contract of employment shall be made to the employee in writing within six months before the expiry of the contract. In the event that the contract is not renewed as aforesaid, the contract shall automatically lapse,” the contract stated.