NSFAF sticks to guns on Nghiwete reinstatement

JEMIMA BEUKESThe Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) says the trust relationship between itself and its chief executive officer (CEO) Hilya Nghiwete has irretrievably broken down.During her suspension with full pay, Nghiwete received a full package of N$185 000 per month while she rendered no service to the Fund.Following the arbitrator’s award for reinstatement the Fund would have to cough up about N$3 million in backpay.Delay after delayAccording to NSFAF, Nghiwete sent the Fund on a wild goose chase and never participated in a forensic investigation which was an opportunity for her to clear her name on the serious charges she faced.Nghiwete faced several charges including maladministration, gross sabotage, failure to disclose a conflict of interest and interference with procurement processes.The High Court will on Friday, 28 January 2022 hear the appeal by the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund against the reinstatement.In court papers filed last week, the Fund says the arbitrator who ordered her reinstatement disregarded the uncontested evidence underpinning Nghiwete’s dismissal.This evidence included Nghiwete’s international travel while allegedly suffering from a psychological condition which reportedly rendered her medially unfit to attend a disciplinary hearing.In papers filed with court last week, NSFAF said the arbitrator who ordered that Nghiwete be reinstated with backpay was misdirected and inconsiderate of the fact that the fund had put up a good case to dismiss Nghiwete.They also point out that that the arbitrator handling the matter failed to consider that there was no absolute right to a hearing and that NSFAF could not reasonably have been expected to continue with the disciplinary hearing in circumstances where Nghiwete intentionally delayed the process.The Office of the Labour Commissioner ordered Nghiwete's reinstatement after a labour arbitrator found she had been unfairly dismissed from her position.Nghiwete was dismissed in February last year, following a lengthy suspension since April 2018 due to alleged maladministration.Procedural delaysIn a 45-page court answering affidavits, NSFAF accused Nghiwete of procedural delay of the disciplinary process of which she was informed already on 26 April 2018.This was done via a letter from the board chairperson who informed her that a forensic investigation into complex allegations levelled against her was to be undertaken.To be fair to her, the Fund offered to serve her with a complete set of charges once the forensic investigation was to be completed as well as three weeks to prepare her defence once the charges were served.“Right from the start of the disciplinary process, Nghiwete was uncooperative, disrespectful and insubordinate to the board as her employer in respect of the disciplinary hearing. In light of her failure to respond to the Fund’s letter on 26 April 2018, limited charges were served on her on 30 April 2018.”On 2 May 2018, Nghiwete responded to the Fund indicating that he did not recognise these charges on the basis that it was no signed, despite communication from the company secretary that she would be served with another letter.NSFAF then scheduled a disciplinary hearing on 7 May 2018, seven days after the charges were served on her, however this meeting was postponed following a request from Nghiwete to obtain legal representation.She was granted this request, although she was not entitled to have a legal representation present at that stage.A month later, during June and August 2018, Nghiwete was allegedly invited to participate in the forensic investigations undertaken by the KPMG.On 29 June 2018, she was allegedly informed by the forensic investigators that they would want to interview her on 4 July 2018, however instead of complying, Nghiwete allegedly asked to sit on 12 July 2018 to discuss the legality of this request.“However, Nghiwete failed to revert on 12 July 2018 and the Fund through its lawyers wrote to Nghiwete’s lawyers on 17 July 2018. The Fund’s lawyers received a letter from her lawyers on 18 July 2018 with an ultimatum that, unless Nghiwete was given full terms and references of the KPMG team and contract entered into by and between such team and the Fund, she would rather reserve all her rights and opt not to avail herself for an interview.”NSFAF allegedly shared the grounds of the investigation and the mandate of the KPMG as well as the contract between KPMG and the Fund on 27 July 2018.However, Nghiwete reportedly did not respond until 1 August 2018, following a reminder from the NSFAF lawyers, and requested that the procurement process under which KPMG was contracted be shared with her.The NSFAF decided this was just a diversion from Nghiwete and that her demands were but a ploy to frustrate the process, so they informed her that the KPMG would be ready until 16 August 2018 to interview her.DishonestyThe Fund then reportedly served Nghiwete on 20 September 2018 with additional charges including dishonesty and breach of confidentiality.DisruptionsThe disciplinary hearing was scheduled for 3 to 5 October 2018 and for the first time during this Nghiwete pointed out that the board was improperly constituted, despite being CEO for a considerable time.Members of the board was appointed according to an Act of parliament not yet in force and Nghiwete reportedly knew this from day 1.“Accordingly, by 14 January 2019, a period of nine months had elapsed since Nghiwete had been charged. Of this only three months could be attributed to the delay in finalising the KPMG report. This mean that six months were attributable to the various tactics Nghiwete employed to delay the hearing.”jemima@namibiansun.com

NSFAF sticks to guns on Nghiwete reinstatement

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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NSFAF sticks to guns on Nghiwete reinstatement

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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