Another suspension at NBC

THE Namibian Broadcasting Corporation yesterday suspended its broadcast manager, Glendyrr Bailey, for alleged conflict of interest and misuse of company equipment.

Bailey is the second senior manager to be suspended by the national broadcaster this month.

Last week, the manager for outside broadcast, Ronney Hoëbeb, was suspended for similar reasons.

The two are allegedly part of a clique of four NBC managers accused of hijacking tenders and deals meant for the broke national broadcaster.

NBC spokesperson Umbi Karuaihe-Upi confirmed Bailey’s suspension yesterday.

The suspensions followed a month-long internal investigation into the alleged misconduct by the managers.

Other people linked to the hijacking of NBC’s deals include the head of department: TV channels, Patrick Mettler, and the acting broadcast operation manager, Steven Kotze.

Karuaihe-Upi told yesterday that the NBC was still studying the preliminary evidence, and that a disciplinary process would be followed. reported last week that some managers allegedly advised foreign broadcasters to avoid dealing with the NBC because of its “low-quality equipment”.

In addition, they are also facing allegations of using the NBC’s video production equipment to broadcast sporting events in Namibia for foreign broadcasting companies over the last four years.

The managers allegedly inserted themselves into the deal which the national broadcaster was negotiating with the two foreign companies – Kwese TV and Dimension TV – for a feed-sharing agreement.

According to reports, they are also accused of diverting NBC deals to produce content for foreign companies to their private companies.

They allegedly started producing sports content for Kwese TV, Dimension TV and a South African company called Host Broadcast Service (HBS) through a company owned by Bailey.

Among the sporting events in question are the rugby sevens series, and a boxing event which was held at Swakopmund last year. The Fifa World Cup qualifying match between Namibia and Eritrea played in Windhoek last month is also among the events alleged to have been privately recorded for foreign companies by the managers.

NBC director general Stanley Similo told The Namibian last week that the allegations against the managers show that they were “undermining the very existence of the institution they work for”.

Similo said he was aware of the clique that has been doing their own production at the NBC since 2017.

He said he had ordered them to stop doing so, because it constituted a conflict of interest.

Bailey had earlier denied wrongdoing, although she confirmed that she owned a production company that she declared to the NBC.

Yesterday, she refused to comment on her suspension.

“Do you think I would want to talk to you after telling you that you are a disgrace to journalism? After I told you to investigate; after you misquoted me […], you are playing with people’s lives here,” she said.

The hijacking of tenders took place at a time when the corporation was struggling to pay its employees’ pension and medical aid contributions.

The national broadcaster announced last month that it could retrench about 156 workers due to financial constraints.