Minister of Public Enterprises, Leon Jooste, has written to three board members of the Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) to request an explanation after they ‘drastically’ resigned from the corporation.

Jooste said this on Monday in an interview with Nampa, where he confirmed that three members, board chairperson Johnnie Hamman; vice-chairperson Clara Bohitile and director Kay-Ditter Rumpf had resigned with immediate effect.

“I have written to each of them to request that they provide the actual reasons that led to them taking this drastic decision. I am waiting for this information and we will then consider and act in line with what we uncover to protect the interest of Meatco,” Jooste said.

In a joint statement issued on Monday, the trio said their resignation comes after the board held a substantive meeting on Thursday.

“The directors resigned due to material unreconciled differences with the management and the rest of the board of directors,” they noted.

Hamman and Rumpf presented their letters of resignations to Jooste on Friday, while Bohitile informed the minister on Sunday that she too was resigning as vice-chairperson of Meatco with immediate effect.

They were appointed alongside six other directors on 01 May 2020 for a three-year term. Hamman and Bohitile were nominated by Meatco members and appointed in the category of experts and Rumpf in the category commercial farmer. Meatco also has three co-opted board members.

In an interview with Nampa on Monday, Meatco’s Corporate Communications Officer Undamuje Hambira refused to comment on the matter.

“It is not in our jurisdiction because we are not the appointing authority. It is not our position to comment or issue any statement regarding the resignation of the said members,” Hambira said.

Source: Namibia Press Agency