Mulunga responds to ‘unheard of’ dismissal
Says Enercon deal was well-intentioned
The ousted Namcor MD says he will not let sleeping dogs lie, as he believes his dismissal sets a dangerous precedent for the country.
Former Namcor managing director Immanuel Mulunga – recently fired just a day after being cleared by an independent disciplinary hearing – says if his dismissal goes unchallenged, it will set a dangerous precedent for other executives in public enterprises to potentially lose their jobs in a similar fashion.
His contract, which still had a year remaining, was arbitrarily terminated by the new Namcor board after it was allegedly advised by lawyers representing the company that the charges related to the deal signed with military contractor Enercon were severe enough to justify firing Mulunga without a hearing.
Enercon, owned by brothers Peter and Malakia Elindi, along with the military company August 26 Holdings, received a N$53 million payment from Namcor last year as part of a transaction that would have seen Namcor take over a fuel supply contract and related infrastructure with the Namibian Defence Force (NDF).
Mulunga conceded that certain aspects regarding that deal might have been handled differently by, for example, keeping the board fully abreast at all times, but he argued that this was a business development deal that simply did not work out.
According to him, the deal was for Namcor to supply one million litres of fuel to the NDF per month.
‘Country of laws’
Delving into the details of the Enercon deal for the first time, Mulunga said Namcor intended to invest in assets owned by Enercon, which had a petroleum supply agreement with the NDF.
“They told us, ‘these assets belong to us and [if] you can buy them then you’ll be our sole supplier of petroleum products’. My executives prepared all the documentation and the legal department okayed it. The board called it a sham and PwC was called in to investigate the matter, and they found nothing criminal about it, my conduct,” Mulunga said on the Network TV show The Agenda last night.
“Yes, maybe we should have done certain things differently, but there was no intention to defraud Namcor. I got suspended [over a different matter], and the relationship between Namcor and Enercon went south. Namcor stopped supplying them with fuel and Enercon struggled to pay Namcor," he said.
“But, even if you feel that I did something wrong, you must still subject me to due processes. Give me a chance to be heard and fire me if that is [what you] find in the end. We are a country of laws.”
Mulunga said Namcor has a similar successful contract at the Husab mine in Erongo Region. “It’s a standard practice in the industry that if you want to capture a customer or volumes of sales, you invest in their assets and those assets become yours. Then you have a supply contract agreement with somebody for X number of years where somebody will now be bound to buy from you,” Mulunga, who joined Namcor in 2015, said.
“We did the same with Husab mine. The assets at the mine belonged to Engen, so we bought them for about N$63 million, and then we started supplying the mine.”
A shadow cast over career
Mulunga was suspended in April 2023 after he transferred N$123 million from a Namcor account to Sungara Energies, a company that Namcor and two other partners jointly own. The money was paid to Sungara as part of the joint venture's plan to buy into an oil block owned by Angolan state oil company Sonangol.
The hearing was chaired by former Supreme Court judge of appeal Gerhard Maritz, who concluded that Namcor had failed to prove that Mulunga's actions prejudiced the company. A day after he was cleared in that matter, Mulunga was fired in connection with the Enercon deal.
“It’s unheard of that someone gets fired without a hearing. The first time the new board spoke to me was when they communicated my dismissal. If they feel they have a strong case against me, they should have initiated a new disciplinary hearing," he said.
Mulunga said the dismissal has cast a shadow on his reputation and jeopardises his future career prospects.
His contract, which still had a year remaining, was arbitrarily terminated by the new Namcor board after it was allegedly advised by lawyers representing the company that the charges related to the deal signed with military contractor Enercon were severe enough to justify firing Mulunga without a hearing.
Enercon, owned by brothers Peter and Malakia Elindi, along with the military company August 26 Holdings, received a N$53 million payment from Namcor last year as part of a transaction that would have seen Namcor take over a fuel supply contract and related infrastructure with the Namibian Defence Force (NDF).
Mulunga conceded that certain aspects regarding that deal might have been handled differently by, for example, keeping the board fully abreast at all times, but he argued that this was a business development deal that simply did not work out.
According to him, the deal was for Namcor to supply one million litres of fuel to the NDF per month.
‘Country of laws’
Delving into the details of the Enercon deal for the first time, Mulunga said Namcor intended to invest in assets owned by Enercon, which had a petroleum supply agreement with the NDF.
“They told us, ‘these assets belong to us and [if] you can buy them then you’ll be our sole supplier of petroleum products’. My executives prepared all the documentation and the legal department okayed it. The board called it a sham and PwC was called in to investigate the matter, and they found nothing criminal about it, my conduct,” Mulunga said on the Network TV show The Agenda last night.
“Yes, maybe we should have done certain things differently, but there was no intention to defraud Namcor. I got suspended [over a different matter], and the relationship between Namcor and Enercon went south. Namcor stopped supplying them with fuel and Enercon struggled to pay Namcor," he said.
“But, even if you feel that I did something wrong, you must still subject me to due processes. Give me a chance to be heard and fire me if that is [what you] find in the end. We are a country of laws.”
Mulunga said Namcor has a similar successful contract at the Husab mine in Erongo Region. “It’s a standard practice in the industry that if you want to capture a customer or volumes of sales, you invest in their assets and those assets become yours. Then you have a supply contract agreement with somebody for X number of years where somebody will now be bound to buy from you,” Mulunga, who joined Namcor in 2015, said.
“We did the same with Husab mine. The assets at the mine belonged to Engen, so we bought them for about N$63 million, and then we started supplying the mine.”
A shadow cast over career
Mulunga was suspended in April 2023 after he transferred N$123 million from a Namcor account to Sungara Energies, a company that Namcor and two other partners jointly own. The money was paid to Sungara as part of the joint venture's plan to buy into an oil block owned by Angolan state oil company Sonangol.
The hearing was chaired by former Supreme Court judge of appeal Gerhard Maritz, who concluded that Namcor had failed to prove that Mulunga's actions prejudiced the company. A day after he was cleared in that matter, Mulunga was fired in connection with the Enercon deal.
“It’s unheard of that someone gets fired without a hearing. The first time the new board spoke to me was when they communicated my dismissal. If they feel they have a strong case against me, they should have initiated a new disciplinary hearing," he said.
Mulunga said the dismissal has cast a shadow on his reputation and jeopardises his future career prospects.
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