NSFAF board clash over Nghiwete

TWO members of the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) board threatened to resign yesterday after they failed to get chief executive officer Hilya Nghiwete suspended because they said they had lost trust in her.

The NSFAF is a state-owned body that was created to disburse funds to needy tertiary students, but its existence has been clouded by controversies over claims of corruption and financial mismanagement.

The plan to suspend Nghiwete was discussed on Tuesday, the same day Cabinet approved a new board that will take over administering the fund in January next year.

The latest stand-off involves Leezhel van Wyk and board chair Patty Karuaihe-Martin, who wanted to discipline Nghiwete for committing the fund to a N$6 million out-of-court settlement with LEX Consult.

LEX Consult developed the management system used by NSFAF, and sued the fund after the company’s contract was not renewed in 2014.

Nghiwete and the education ministry were cited in the N$64 million lawsuit.

The company later reduced the amount to N$16 million, but the board still rejected that offer.

Lawyers consulted by NSFAF also said they do not understand how Lex could ever justify a claim of N$64 million, saying their demand was “beyond comprehension”.

The Karuaihe-Martin-led board refused to entertain the demands until 2016, when they decided to negotiate with LEX Consult.

This year, the board initiated the negotiations, and Nghiwete was part of the four-member group tasked with talking to LEX Consult about a settlement figure.

The NSFAF board decided on 9 November 2017 that it will agree with its lawyers and pay LEX.

However, some board members agreed to this on condition that they would deal with Nghiwete.

Karuaihe-Martin told The Namibian yesterday that Nghiwete then approached LEX through the fund’s lawyers, and agreed to pay N$6 million, without consulting the board.

The board met on Tuesday this week to decide whether to suspend Nghiwete or not over the settlement issue.

Van Wyk spearheaded the campaign to deal with Nghiwete by tabling a motion of no confidence in the chief executive.

“I have no further confidence in the chief executive, based on her role in facilitating a settlement offer with Lex Consult. She overstepped her line of authority,” a source recalled Van Wyk as saying.

The Namibian understands that the board was divided over whether to suspend Nghiwete or not during a four-hour meeting on Tuesday.

Sources said Van Wyk and Karuaihe-Martin wanted to suspend Nghiwete, but board member Franz Gertze tried to convince the others that the new board would deal with Nghiwete.

Other board members, lawyer Mbushandje Ntinda and Timotheus Angala, clashed with Karuaihe-Martin when they supported Nghiwete.

Karuaihe-Martin questioned why the two directors were defending Nghiwete, but Angala accused her of conflict of interest.

In response to , Karuaihe-Martin said the N$6 million settlement is “extremely high, unreasonable and unjustified, especially considering the existing over-commitment of the institution in respect of the students budget resulting in insufficient funds to pay for students needs”.

After the failure to suspend Nghiwete, the board decided to withdraw from the initial agreement made two weeks ago to pay Lex Consult N$6 million.

The NSFAF board’s U-turn goes against advice from their lawyers – senior counsel Jean Marais and Geoffrey Dicks – to pay Lex.

Although the senior lawyers found that Nghiwete did not have the board’s approval, in their legal opinion dated 26 October 2017, they advised the directors to settle the matter.

The lawyers, however, said they believed that a court is likely to find that the matter has been properly settled since the initial board resolution authorised the four people, including Nghiwete, to negotiate a settlement.

is informed that Karuaihe-Martin and Van Wyk told higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi yesterday that they wanted to resign.

Kandjii-Murangi, according to sources, told them that they could not step down, but to continue until their terms end on 31 December 2017 before a new board takes over in January.