Simataa addresses allegations of misusing SSC funds in memoir

Secretary to the Cabinet George Simataa has denied having misused N$11 million availed by the Social Security Commission (SSC).

This money was for a training programme for the children of the liberation struggle.

Simataa says when the money was made available in 2016 by the SSC, he was accused of stealing it for personal use.

Simataa talks about this in his memoir, ‘Timeless: My Career in the Public Service’.

Following a Cabinet decision, the government embarked on a training programme to integrate children of the liberation struggle into Namibian society in July 2016.

When the project commenced, the SSC Development Fund donated N$11 million to the programme.

“However, the SSC money was marred with media allegations that I had stolen the money for my purpose.

I remember one day arriving at my hometown of Katima Mulilo, when an old and retired school principal, very well known to me, approached me and teasingly said with in our Zambezi light-heartedness: ‘When are you going to give me even N$10 000 of your stolen N$11 million of the SSC money’,” Simataa recalls.

At the time, the Trade Union Congress of Namibia took to the Anti-Corruption Commission to look into various matters concerning the transfer of the N$11 million, including whether Simataa had the authority as chairperson of the programme to open an account into which the money could be transferred.

“But these were not scary comments to me, because I was already used to such unkind remarks from my time as the permanent secretary of works and transport,” Simataa says.

He says the N$11 million from the SSC was spent on the first stage of the training programme.

“The government further made budgetary provisions amounting to N$59 million for the training and employment of the children of the liberation struggle during the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years for the same purpose,” Simaata says.

The programme was composed of civic training for two months, followed by four months of basic skills training in various trades.

Upon completion, ‘struggle kids’ would then get preferential treatment in government jobs.

This programme received backlash, with even former ombudsman John Walters raising concern that ‘struggle kids’ would get jobs without going through the normal recruitment process.