Meatco-Cabinet Jobs For Comrades

The cabinet’s decision to force Meatco’s board of directors to keep Mwilima Mushokabanji as chief executive is not only a recipe for disaster, it is an abuse of the voters’ mandate for good governance.

Meatco’s board of directors decided to not renew Mushokobanji’s five-year contract when it expires in January 2025.

Mushokobanji has presided over massive losses at Meatco, which has had to be given taxpayer money to save it from insolvency. Last year, the government bailed Meatco out with N$250 million to keep it afloat. This year, the parastatal announced it had recorded a N$118 million loss for the 2022/23 financial year.

The Cabinet’s approach points to a continuation of a practice of jobs for comrades that has seen perpetual mismanagement of many state-owned enterprises (SOEs), where ill-equipped managers are put in charge of what otherwise should be profit-making commercial entities.

South African chief justice Raymond Zondo summed up the dangers of politicians interfering in operational matters of parastatals in what is now known as state capture.

In his report on corruption in South Africa’s public sector, Zondo said: “There is a pattern of executive interference and political overreach at the SOEs.

“Boards of the SOEs have shirked their responsibilities, or worse, used their powers to corrupt the SOEs which they have been appointed to protect.”

A radical change of direction on Meatco is needed to ensure sound management practices and accountability if state resources are to benefit the majority of Namibians. Otherwise, Namibians will continue pumping billions of taxpayer dollars into parasitic parastatals with ego returns and zero rewards to the public.