N$95-million ‘corrupt’ State House tender blocked by Simataa

Secretary to the Cabinet George Simataa says he became a “marked man” after he stopped several corrupt tenders, including a contract for N$95 million to install paving at State House.

Simataa makes this revelation in his recently published memoir, ‘Timeless: My Career in the Public Service’.

Simataa has been a powerful figure in the public service for decades, including being implicated in various questionable transactions. However, he has never been found guilty in any of these cases.

In this book, Simaata provides insight into how he stopped a State House tender in 2010, as the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Works and Transport.

“One such contract involved the pavement of the entire surrounding of the inside of the new State House. This was an award of a N$95-million contract, made before my time, which I considered unlawful,” he says.

Simataa writes that unnamed Swapo people “declared war” against him after he stopped the tender.

“The tender was awarded without following procurement procedures.”

Simataa says he discussed the matter with the then works and transport minister, Helmut Angula, who also agreed that the award was unlawful.

“Minister Angula and I agreed that the Cabinet be informed of the situation and be asked to support us in the cancellation of the contract.

At that time, we argued in our submissions to the Cabinet that State House did not need to spend such amounts of money on landscaping and pavements, when it could enjoy the natural rock formation and shrubs that surrounded the buildings in the compound.”

Simataa says his decision was supported by the Cabinet, which authorised the cancellation of the award.

“I informed the contract holder of our intention to cancel the contract on the grounds of non-compliance with established procurement processes,” he adds.

According to him, the government subsequently offered N$6 million as a final settlement fee to the contractor “as a gesture for the inconvenience caused by their relocation from Oranjemund to Windhoek, although another N$5.7 million was paid for the establishment of the camp, as was the practice at that time”.

Simaata says the contractor rejected the N$6-million settlement offer and went to court, but later dropped the case due to legal costs.

“That was in 2008. In 2010, the aggrieved contractor came back to my office without their lawyers, but this time, with our Swapo officers, claiming they were party members and there was a need for a friendlier approach.”

Simataa says he told them the government’s offer of N$6 million, approved in 2008, was still available and that they should indicate in writing if they accepted the offer.

“They promised to go and prepare an offer letter for my attention, but they never returned to the ministry. I left the ministry in 2012, without seeing them back in my office.”

Simataa says due to his decisions on state contracts, his leadership was under scrutiny and he was subjected to gossip by some of his staff members, while others refused to speak to him.

“I was shaking things up,” he recounts.

“I was subjected to gossip and rumour mongering because it was believed that I was taking bread from other people. Some of the people involved in the case were my teammates in the office, holding high offices.

“As a result of my decisions, they declared war against me, they stopped speaking to me, choosing to do so only when it was necessary, and only for official business.

This was because I was their boss and they would need to speak to me in any case for work-related matters.”

However, he says he did not shy away from speaking to them and was not bothered by their lack of communication.

“I enjoyed every moment of their foolishness. The fact that they did not speak to me never bothered me.

I believed they were not responsible for the supply of oxygen I breathed. There for, except that they were my colleagues at work, I could do without them in my life,” he says.

Angula confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that Simataa did cancel the N$95-million tender.

“Yes, I remember that tender and agreed with it. However, I don’t remember the details explicitly,” Angula said.

UNRESOLVED

State House has long been accused of controversial tenders.

In 2019, The Namibian reported on a case in which the government discussed a proposal to install a N$1-million elevator at a state-owned house, occupied by then vice president Nickey Iyambo.

The presidency later issued a statement saying officials who illegally installed the elevator would be charged.

Presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari at the time said former president Hage Geingob was against the elevator plan.

“Geingob mandated management in the presidency, acting in close collaboration with the secretary to the Cabinet, George Simataa, and the executive director in the Office of the Prime Minister, to do everything possible to identify the culprits and lay charges in accordance with applicable laws of the Republic of Namibia,” Hengari said.

A few days after Hengari’s statement, the State House official who was reportedly involved in installing the elevator, Reinhold Namupala, allegedly took his own life in the parking lot of a lodge about 90km from Windhoek.

There has been no update on this case since then.