Mutorwa probes building saga

WORKS minister John Mutorwa yesterday said the ministry is investigating an incident where a N$2,4 million invoice was approved to demolish a state building valued at N$1 million at Okahandja.

The minister was responding to an article published in yesterday about an old hotel building at Okahandja, which was set to be demolished for N$2,4 million by a private Namibian company, ADDI Investments.

The demolition was brought to a halt when works deputy minister Sankwasa James Sankwasa instructed the company to stop immediately, and later called in police to arrest the workers.

Mutorwa, who was speaking in the National Assembly, said the issue of the demolition of the old government building came to his attention on 8 March 2019 when he requested some facts and information from the department responsible within the ministry.

“For now, it is my honest advice that the doctrine of the presumption of innocent until proven guilty, in a competent court of law, should be adhered to and respected by all of us with regard to this particular issue,” he stated.

He added that some of the reports have been submitted and are being analysed, while other reports are still pending.

“The reports are very necessary as they will be very helpful and indispensable to eventually and fairly determine whether the applicable laws of the country have been scrupulously and rigorously followed and adhered to, in all instances, in dealing with the matter,” the minister said.

Mutorwa also expressed disappointment that the matter was made public “in a very biased, distorted and personalised form”. “I do not approve of that at all, neither am I impressed,” he stressed.

The Namibian reported that Sankwasa accused the ministry’s executive director, Willem Goeiemann, of failing to adhere to treasury instructions by issuing a demolition tender without an existing contract.

“How the extremely exorbitant N$2,4 million was calculated and agreed upon as the most reasonable price for such a small project that can be demolished for N$100 000 raises suspicions of overpricing and fraud,” Sankwasa said.

The Limkokwing University of Creative Technology, a private Malaysian international university with campuses in Asia, Europe and Africa, had reserved the premises last year to set up a tertiary institution.

The Malaysians had agreed to renovate the building at their own cost, making it unnecessary for the government to spend money on any demolition, Sankwasa was also quoted as saying.