Staff Writer
Gobabis Town Council is yet to pronounce itself on the future of the southern town’s Chief Executive Officer, Ignatius Thundinyane.
The CEO stands accused of making irregular payments of N$6 million to Ewi Technical Civil Construction, a company that is alleged to have attained a fake bank guarantee to secure a tender at the town. Chairperson of the Gobabis management committee, Dewaal Louw, had in May stated he would seek clarity from the CEO on why payment of N$6 million were made to the company without council approval.
Whether an explanation from the CEO had been offered and if any action will be taken, Louw told the Windhoek Observer, that “Communication concerning Gobabis and new information concerning the current report will be done through official press release in due course.” According to media reports,Thundinyane had suspended Gobabis Municipality’s Manager for Corporate Services and Human Resources, Frieda Shimakeleni, after she had been requested to also provide clarity on some of the matters raised in the report by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD).
The report had recommended that Thundinyane be held accountable for the payment to Ewi Technical Civil Construction without approval.
Ewi Technical Civil Construction is owned by Salomo Joram, and his Chinese business partner, Gongwen Xi, and is alleged to have been awarded a road construction tender worth N$11.2 million through an alleged fake bank guarantee.
