Windhoek
Former Nipam boss Professor Joseph Diescho says the unfair manner in which he was relieved of his duties at the parastatal is more important than the money paid out to him.
“There is a bigger issue at stake and you guys are playing at the periphery of it. I almost got killed when they broke into my car,” said Diescho in an interview with New Era, following this newspaper’s report yesterday in which his lawyers admitted that deductions from the agreed settlement and the money paid out to him “are in dispute and are the subject of… ongoing negotiations.”
However, yesterday Diescho said his case has never centred on money, but on the unfair manner in which Nipam got rid of him.
“It is about the unfair use of laws and power. Whether they pay me N$10 million or not, I would still not be satisfied because the manner in which they treated me is a violation of my rights. We have a constitutional democracy, in which everybody is to be treated with fairness and presumed innocent until proven guilty, but that did not happen,” Diescho said.
“We need to educate our leaders that they must respect the law, whether you are the Cabinet secretary, minister, or CEO, it does not give you the right to trample upon other people’s rights and dignity,” said Diescho, whose legal team said he will file a labour dispute if money due to him as a result of his unfair dismissal is not paid.
Diescho said he is not satisfied with the manner in which the matter was handled. Official documents seen by New Era detail how Diescho’s severance package was cut from N$3.6 million to N$1.1 million and also indicate that he opted to keep the Mercedes Benz ML6.3 bought for him by Nipam.
The debts allegedly include unpaid rent, municipal, cellphone and vehicle bills. Responding to New Era’s questions on Wednesday, Diescho’s lawyers from Koep and Partners said their client “accepted this payment on a without prejudice basis”.
Prior to his departure from the post Diescho was among the highest paid parastatal bosses in the country, with an annual salary of N$1.8 million.
According to Nipam, Diescho – who earned N$150 000 per month – owes Windhoek Municipality N$258 000 in municipal bills and the Office of the Prime Minister N$108 000 for rent.
Diescho said his recent misfortunes derive from Nipam chairman George Simataa and other senior politicians opposed to his writings.