2008-01-31Staff Report 2 "By Anna Shilongo WINDHOEK Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Director General Bob Kandetu who has been severely criticized by protesting workers says he will only resign if the Board of Directors says his services are no longer needed. The embattled NBC boss says if he resigns as the director general, he will walk out knowing that he performed and handled the highly stressful job to the best of his ability. Protesting NBC workers have called for Kandetu's resignation questioning his ability to run the affairs of the corporation. ""When I came to work for the NBC, I was not here on trial whatsoever. I came here because I knew there was work to be done and I have done my work, even the public knows that,"" he said. However, he said, should there be a feeling that his time has expired as director general of the NBC, he would not hesitate to step down and he will walk out a proud man. ""When I joined the NBC, the company was experiencing some financial constraints, to an extent that it couldn't even generate enough revenue for itself, but today I can stand tall and smile at my achievements,"" said the DG. Kandetu said when Penduka was handling the corporation's TV licence collections, not a single person knew what was going on. The department was making a huge loss compared to now when the corporation retained the mandate for licence fee collections, said Kandetu. Penduka only collected N$500 000 a month at the time they were handling the department but today, said Kandetu, the corporation generates around N$1,8 million a month. ""The Sales and Advertisement Department was in a mess. There were no follow-ups. People did not pay their accounts,"" he said. Another handicap he remedied were the loopholes in the Finance Department, which he said had previously fallen apart. ""I needed to appoint a financial guru who would take over the office, the office was in a mess, accounts were not up to date, but with the appointment of the financial guru, the company managed to cover and collect all its debt,"" he stressed. However, the finance consultant who was appointed at that time resigned a month after his appointment. ""He resigned because he realized that someone in the department was involved in a dirty scam and because our disciplinary committee was not serious with the case. He decided to resign,"" said Kandetu. Following his resignation, Kandetu apparently persuaded him to return to work as the company's financial consultant. ""He is appointed on a contract basis. We needed to call him back to complete his job. He has done a lot for the company especially in sorting out their financial services. The board was even impressed with his work,"" explained the DG. The DG said the NBC had about a N$232 million debt, and it owes the Receiver of Revenue N$121 million. ""Today, I will tell you that the NBC is clean. We have cancelled all our debts. Through hard work and commitment, we generated around N$28 million to service our debt."" he told New Era. Although the NBC is getting assistance from the State as a national broadcaster, the corporation also needs to generate its own income through other means like marketing and advertisement. ""At this moment, the nation is bleeding. They are highly affected by the strike. There are no services rendered as it was supposed to, and to make it worse, I can not even sell a single advert, which is supposed to generate revenue for the corporation,"" said Kandetu with reference to the strike. The embattled DG denied allegations that his management was incompetent. ""People come from different schools and institutions and they all bring different skills and knowledge, but to say that people are incompetent just because you hate them, I think it's not fair."" said Kandetu. He insisted the NBC remains committed to the plight of its employees. " 2008-01-31Staff Report 2
