P02 05072017

National News
2 Wednesday 5 July 2017
THE NAMIBIAN
sme
from page 1
In the application, Shiimi
proposed that Ian McLaren
and David Bruni, of Investment
Trust Company,
should be appointed as
liquidators to facilitate the
closure of the bank which
was ostensibly created to
help small and medium
enterprises.
The move to close the
bank comes in the wake
of about N$200 million of
the bank’s money allegedly
having disappeared through
questionable investments
made in South Africa. According
to the court papers,
about N$200 million
was transferred to a South
African company called
Mamepe Capital, which
in turn transferred N$150
million of the money to
VBS Mutual Bank, also in
South Africa.
Shiimi further said the
N$175 million hole created
by the lost money will affect
the bank’s balance sheet and
income statement.
According to him, an
assessment dated 23 June
2017, which he said concerned
him, valued the
SME Bank’s total assets
at N$997 million, while
its total liabilities stood at
N$1,1 billion.
He said information indicates
that the bank was
insolvent – a term used to
describe an individual or
organisation that can no
longer meet its financial
obligations.
“The solvency position
is not expected to improve
as the SME Bank continues
to incur operating losses,”
he said.
Shiimi said the bank’s
liquid assets (cash on hand
or an asset that can be readily
converted into cash) were
N$76 million as of 22 June
2017, which he said was
below the 7,5 % minimum
reserve a bank needed to
maintain to be compliant
with banking regulations.
He said the reserve could
drop to as low as 1,54%
around September, when the
SME Bank is expected to
pay out some of its investors.
Quoting an expert who
had assessed the SME
Bank’s finances, Shiimi said
the bank would eventually
find itself in a position of
being unable to honour its
obligations.
“The bank will be faced
with both factual and commercial
insolvency in the
near future, which is inevitable,”
the expert stated.
Shiimi said the SME
Bank was no longer able to
sustain itself as a financial
institution.
In addition, he said the
bank did not have the appropriate
management in
place (not those appointed
by the Bank of Namibia).
He said the state has
pumped N$448 million into
the SME Bank since it was
launched in 2012, while
the Zimbabwean minority
partners have contributed
N$57 million.
“Where there has been a
mismanagement of public
funds, government cannot
permit the situation to
continue,” the central bank
governor said, adding that
closing the bank would
protect the state from “mismanagement
and wastage of
public funds”.
Shiimi said seeking the
closure of the bank comes
after he tried to get financial
assistance from government
and the Zimbabwean shareholders.
He mentioned writing
a letter to industrialisation
minister Immanuel
Ngatjizeko, who informed
him that there was no money.
Ngatjizeko, according to
Shiimi, said “all avenues
have been exhausted in
terms of SME Bank recapitalisation
from the majority
shareholder [government]”.
Ngatjizeko allegedly told
him that there were no
resources to guarantee a
timely bailout of the SME
Bank.
Shiimi said his impression
after that was that government
had given up on the
SME Bank, a stance he said
was confirmed when finance
minister Calle Schlettwein
rejected a proposal to bail
out the bank and instead
called for it to be closed if it
failed to recover the N$200
million.
Shiimi said he received
a letter from the lawyers
of the SME Bank’s Zimbabwean
shareholders on
23 June 2017, but that no
other communication was
received beyond that.
“Earlier calls for recapitalisation
came to naught.
Given the present circumstances
in which the SME
Bank finds itself, the launching
of this application could
simply not be held back any
longer,” the governor said.
Questions abound about
what would happen to the
loans issued by the bank.
An official familiar with
the SME Bank’s planned
closure told The Namibian
yesterday that “people with
loans must continue to service
their loans as before,
otherwise they will default,
and will be taken to court”.
“Those with money in the
bank will be informed about
the outcome of the court
application, and on the way
forward,” the source said.
Some senior government
officials claim that a group
of Namibian business people
have been lined up to
take over the SME Bank,
and that negotiations have
been going on for some time.
family
from page 1
Namises said she and her 12
siblings grew up on the farm, and
although most of the siblings have
now relocated to Dordabis, Rehoboth
and Windhoek, they would still come
back for holidays, and bring their
children as well.
Of the siblings, only one, Leopoldine,
lived at the farm to look after their
late father (Moses), who was made to
sign a contract that his family would
move off the farm plot upon his death.
The contract states that upon Moses’
death, his family will move from
the farm within three months.
However, the family has asked for
an extension until March next year,
but this was rejected when they failed
to turn up for a meeting to discuss the
extension request.
Hess told The Namibian yesterday
that she cannot allow the family to
continue staying on the land when
she had already honoured the contract
TNAmib
from page 1
“The asset register that was provided
to us by the property department was
compiled in 2012 by Ihuhua,” investigators
said. The audit firm also investigated
claims that some former board members
sold property to themselves, while there
was also another claim that properties
were sold for almost next to nothing.
Another claim was that TransNamib
was still paying for water and electricity
for the houses which were dubiously
allocated to people connected at the stateowned
entity.
Auditors could not finalise their investigation
because there was a lack of
information.
This failure to manage the property
portfolio forced the rail company’s business
arm to outsource the task. Ihuhua
recommended to the board on June 2016
that a professional and experienced property
administrator should be appointed to
manage TransNamib’s properties, and
train its personnel.
He said TransNamib chose four companies
to bid for the contract in 2015.
The invited companies were AIJ, Utility
Solutions Namibia, Broll and Joseph &
Snyman, documents show.
The suspended property chief recommended
that AIJ should be awarded the
three-year contract because it had scored
the highest during the evaluations.
According to Ihuhua’s evaluation,
AIJ’s strength included “satisfactory
experience” in property administration,
qualified managers, as well as being
owned and managed by previously
disadvantaged youth.
“Compared to Joseph & Snyman (with
close to 100 years experience), AIJ firm
has less than 15 years of experience,”
Ihuhua said.
Ihuhua, however, also said Joseph &
Snyman was the most expensive bidder
since it asked 23% of the total revenue that
would be generated from the management
of the N$1,4 billion property portfolio.
AIJ will be responsible for screening
possible tenants, allocating TransNamib
property, maintenance, payments collection,
paying bills, inspections, contracts
management, updating rent agreements,
recovering debt and developing the parastatal’s
commercial property guidelines.
Documents show that AIJ asked for
15% of the income received from the
N$1,4 billion property management
contract.
The estimated income, according to
AIJ’s bid, is set at N$2,5 million per
with their former worker, the late
Moses Namiseb.
“We had an agreement with Moses,
who worked for us, but had no obligation
to the children. It is also not an
eviction, as none of the children lived
here, expect Leopoldine, who looked
after their father. We offered her a place
at the main house, but she refused,”
explained Hess.
Hess said they have had many farm
workers who were made to move out
of the farm when they retired.
“Some have come to me saying if
we allow this family to stay on, they
will also come back and claim part of
the land. There are still so many other
pensioners at the farm, and I will have
to make tough decisions,” she added.
Hess said she understands that
people need land to live on, but there
is only so much she can do.
She said the last thing she wants
is for any of her people to move into
squatter camps, “but at least these
children (Namisen family) are well
off, and they have no reason to behave
like this as they can take care of
themselves”.
“We cannot also just give them
land. Even by law, we cannot cut it
into small pieces or give it to them.
Many other families who also worked
here will come back and make claims,”
she reiterated.
During an interview with The
Namibian on Sunday, one of the sisters,
Wilma !Games (44) said she feels
hurt because her father had been living
on a small piece of communal land in
the Autabib area before he moved to
work on the Garib farm.
“If he had continued living there, we
would not be in this situation where
we are forced to move off the land.
Where do we go now? This has been
home for us,” said !Games.
Brandishing a letter dated January
2005, !Games said they sought to
purchase the portion of land they have
been living on, but all their attempts
were in vain.
Another sibling, Frederick Namiseb
(58) said he had also worked
month in rentals for 36 months. This
equals to income of N$90 million, of
which 15% (N$13 million) will go to
AIJ as their share.
This figure could be lowered if the
company does not get the expected
15% income from rent as expected
every month.
Another document shows that Ihuhua
had to report to the board earlier this
year on the progress of that management
contract.
“We have nothing much to report on
this item as we are anticipating the situation
to change with the just-commenced
procured AIJ service to manage some of
these facilities,” Ihuhua said.
He said AIJ’s introduction will reduce
property vandalism, non-payments,
lack of maintenance funding, unreliable
security officials and the reviewing of
rent agreements.
According to the timeline of the contract,
January to March this year was for
identifying the core operational property
and transferring the administration to
AIJ. AIJ is not new to money-spinning
state contracts.
On its website, AIJ prides itself for
having been involved in the N$5,5 billion
storage facility that is the subject of
a government investigation.
with his father at several posts on the
Garib farm, where they sometimes
looked after more than 600 cattle.
According to him, his father bought
his own livestock after saving some
money. Over the years, the number
of cattle grew, but have now been
stagnant at 10 for the past few years,
he stated.
Namiseb feels it is unfair that all
those years of work have now come
to waste, and in the end, they will
have to move off the land that was
given to them.
Another sister, Rosa Namises, told
The Namibian yesterday that her
mother was born to the Luehl family,
and was a child of Hans-Karl, which
Hess denied yesterday, saying if that
was the case, the family would have
used that against them already.
The other sister, Elizabeth Namises,
said she hopes the Hess family will
give them an extension until their
father’s tombstone unveiling, as they
will also use this time to look for
other options.
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warm over the Zambezi and
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sunny and mild to
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Fresh to strong winds over
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Temperature (min-max)
Katima 09-25
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