New Era COO returns to work
New Era Public Corporation (NEPC) chief operations officer Kavezemburuka ‘Sieggie’ Veii-Mujoro has questioned a probe into his conduct by his employer, saying despite being previously suspended, he has not been informed what his alleged transgressions were.
Veii-Mujoro was suspended last December over questionable procurement processes at the government mouthpiece, and has since returned to work.
“I do not know why I was suspended besides some allegations raised and reported to the board of directors, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the minister of information,” he said.
According to him, two investigations were conducted by ministry staff members whose report has yet to be released, while auditing firm PwC was contracted to conduct a probe which had been handed over to the company’s board.
“I have been requesting for the report as the accused and it has not been given to me a month and few days since I returned to office,” he said.
NEPC board chairperson John Sifani was in the dark when asked whether attempts have been made to inform Veii-Mujoro about the charges brought against him, simply saying: “I don’t know”.
Red flags
At the time, Veii-Mujoro was accused of misrepresenting facts to the NEPC board – including allegedly stating that a company minibus, which is grounded at a scrapyard in Windhoek, is at the office and fully operational.
Several other procurement issues were allegedly flagged to the board, leading to a decision to suspend him for three months.
On 5 November, the NEPC board stopped management from awarding a controversial newspaper distribution tender because of alleged irregularities.
Before that, the board had instituted an investigation into how a company called Infinity Logistics was awarded a distribution contract without following the approved internal procurement processes – and contrary to Section 2(a) of the Public Procurement Act 15 of 2015.
The Infinity contract was awarded without any public bid invitation, opening and evaluation.
Veii-Mujoro was suspended last December over questionable procurement processes at the government mouthpiece, and has since returned to work.
“I do not know why I was suspended besides some allegations raised and reported to the board of directors, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the minister of information,” he said.
According to him, two investigations were conducted by ministry staff members whose report has yet to be released, while auditing firm PwC was contracted to conduct a probe which had been handed over to the company’s board.
“I have been requesting for the report as the accused and it has not been given to me a month and few days since I returned to office,” he said.
NEPC board chairperson John Sifani was in the dark when asked whether attempts have been made to inform Veii-Mujoro about the charges brought against him, simply saying: “I don’t know”.
Red flags
At the time, Veii-Mujoro was accused of misrepresenting facts to the NEPC board – including allegedly stating that a company minibus, which is grounded at a scrapyard in Windhoek, is at the office and fully operational.
Several other procurement issues were allegedly flagged to the board, leading to a decision to suspend him for three months.
On 5 November, the NEPC board stopped management from awarding a controversial newspaper distribution tender because of alleged irregularities.
Before that, the board had instituted an investigation into how a company called Infinity Logistics was awarded a distribution contract without following the approved internal procurement processes – and contrary to Section 2(a) of the Public Procurement Act 15 of 2015.
The Infinity contract was awarded without any public bid invitation, opening and evaluation.
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