Disgruntled National Housing Enterprise (NHE) employees have alleged that the current administration under Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gisbertus Mukulu and the board dismally failed to improve the performance of the institution both financially and operationally.

The employees through the Public Service Union of Namibia are staging a countrywide peaceful demonstration which commenced on Monday and ends on Friday, saying NHE has deteriorated to such an extent it is losing its relevance.

In their petition read by Fabiola Matuzee in Windhoek, the workers claimed that “since Mukulu’s appointment in 2016, the institution has only built 600 houses in five years against the 6 250 houses as per its strategic plan while financial reports have not been produced and as a result audited financial reports are outstanding for 2017 up to 2020”.

This according to them makes it difficult for the institution to access funding, adding that NHE is in contravention of its own Act which requires the line minister to table financial reports in the National Assembly six months after the end of each financial year.

The workers further claimed that the loan book which is the main source of revenue for the institution is shrinking on a daily basis with very few new loans being added to the loan book to make the business sustainable.

They went on to state that despite management claiming that the institution does not have funds, it is allegedly involved in avoidable expenditures such as spending more than N.dollars 5 million in legal fees on one employee and buying plots in Gobabis at N.dollars 1.3 million, more than the valuation cost.

The workers also cited self-enrichment and victimisation schemes where three favoured female executives’ acting allowances were allegedly reversed to 100 per cent in September of 2021.

These actions, they stressed have negatively affected them to a point where they have not received salary adjustments for the past three years while the cost of living rises on a daily basis.

They, therefore, demanded a once-off 60 per cent adjustment on their basic salary in lieu of the annual salary increment of 3.4 per cent agreed between management and the union during negotiations in February 2022.

“We expect our concerns and demands to be addressed within the next seven days,” the workers said.

Receiving the petition, Mukulu promised to respond within the timeframe the workers requested.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency