Outrage by NDF’s ghost employees

THE story of a young woman who is being threatened with arrest by authorities over the non-payment of taxes as a Namibian Defence Force member, while she was not one, has resulted in others who had similar experiences coming forward this week.

This followed a post by Affirmative Repositioning movement (AR) leader Job Amupanda about the woman, Helena Julius, who applied for an NDF job in 2014, but was unsuccessful. However, she has been hounded by tax officials since then to pay tax on her “NDF salary”.

Julius, whose identify number is 80091110688, is being threatened with arrest and imprisonment by the Inland Revenue department for allegedly owing government outstanding NDF taxes over the past three years.

She is in fact employed by Clean Master at Ondangwa.

She told yesterday that while she had applied to join the NDF in 2014, her application was unsuccessful.

However, when the names of successful candidates were published, a name similar to hers, but with a different ID number, appeared in the New Era publication of 24 December 2014.

Inland Revenue documents seen by The Namibian show that she has been ’employed’ by the defence ministry since 23 February 2015, and was registered as a taxpayer on 30 December 2014.

Julius said she went to the defence ministry to seek clarity on who was employed there, but was told that “it was another person with a similar name”.

“This office wishes to inform you that we shortlisted Helena Julius, ID no. 920704003807, to report for the medical examination, and not the Helena Julius with ID no. 80091110688,” a November 2016 letter to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) from former defence permanent secretary Petrus Shivute reads in part.

However, the ID number which appeared in the newspaper advert was for a Helena Julius with ID no. 84030910398. At that time, Julius was already receiving Inland Revenue assessment forms and SMSes demanding she pays her dues.

“I was told that I was working for the NDF, and I needed to submit my tax returns otherwise they would lock me up. This was despite submitting a police declaration that I was not employed by the NDF,” Julius explained.

She said she also reported the case to the ACC at Oshakati, and “I was told that there was no corruption, but that they would ask the military police to investigate the issue”.

When approached for comment, ACC Oshakati investigator Thomas Shangula confirmed that the case was reported to his office, but was transferred to “the headquarters in Windhoek”.

He added that no investigation was launched because they have not been given a mandate to do so by head office.

“We were not mandated to take up the investigation. We only investigate when we receive directives from the headquarters,” Shangula said.

Finance minister Calle Schlettwein yesterday told that he was aware of the Helena Julius case.

“I read the post on social media, and I have directed my officials to investigate the issue. It can be an issue with Inland Revenue, that they are still asking for tax payments without actually establishing that the person is working for that ministry, or it might be a ghost employee,” the minister said.

Three other individuals have also come forward with similar stories – of having failed to get a job in the NDF, but having received tax return forms and SMSes demanding that they pay tax for earnings over the past few years as NDF employees.

Amupanda yesterday said he was shocked by “the extent of the rot, maladministration and laxity” in the public service and in the defence force. He said AR would take up the complaints, “and try and find a way to help them”.

“There are many young people who are coming to me with similar complaints. We will do everything in our power to get to the bottom of this,” Amupanda stated.

“Helena’s pain and lack of support from both the ACC and government just because she is poor places a moral obligation on our shoulders to fight the sanctioned corruption in the system,” he said.

Ministry of Defence spokesperson Gideon Shuuya yesterday said he would reply to questions that were sent to him, only today.

Corruption involving ghost employees is not a new phenomenon in the public service. Last year, 19 teachers in the Zambezi region were arrested in connection with a N$10 million salary scam.

In the past, a number of defence ministry officials have also been arrested for making false death benefit payout claims.