Werner Menges
An ambitious attempt to clean up an apartheid eyesore has landed Namibia’s former housing minister – the winner of a United Nations housing award – and top officials in the Ministry of Housing in the largest corruption trial since independence.
The Windhoek High Court heard evidence about confused responsibilities, denials and disregard for national housing policy in a project that was supposed to turn a decayed former hostel for migrant workers into a complex of low-cost family housing units.
Five years later, the project that was supposed to be completed within a year at a cost of R5,1-million remains unfinished. Of the R12-million spent on the renovation, more than R6,678-million was misappropriated, the state charges.
Former housing minister Dr Libertina Amathila is not among the eight persons accused in the fraud or theft and bribery case, but over the past two weeks she has been accused of high-handedness. During her tenure she had gained a reputation as being a tough, straight-talking minister, and in 1993 she won the UN Committee for Human Settlements’ Habitat Award for a different low-cost housing project.
Part of the money spent on the project allegedly ended up as kickbacks to the parastatal chief, Axaro Tsowaseb, the now- dismissed director of housing, Karl Gowaseb, and a suspended senior National Housing Enterprise manager, Alpheus Gaweseb
The bribes were allegedly paid out by building contractor Ignatius Bampton, and businessman Madawa Nouiseb, whose company was appointed as managing consultant on the project .
Nouiseb appointed another of his companies as main contractor, while Bampton was appointed sub-contractor. Nouiseb was not only a director of the two companies that worked on the project – he is also a director of Kalahari Holdings, the holding company in control of the ruling South West African People’s Organisation’s business empire.