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The powerful Mineworkers’ Union of Namibia (MUN) is facing a leadership crisis amid a clash between former union president Ismael Kasuto and his deputy Desley Somseb and the union’s acting leader.
At a press conference yesterday, Acting President Mathew Mberiuana levelled several charges against the deposed couple, accusing them of hijacking control of the Namibia Mining Investment Trust (NAMIT) and orchestrating the irregular payment of N$250,000 from its accounts.
Meanwhile, Kasuto and Somseb are suing MUN and seven others to reverse their removal, but Mberiuana said the court questioned the urgency of the issue.
According to Somseb, Mberiuana and his faction within the union leadership have their hands in the pockets of the trust fund – which owns MUN’s multimillion-dollar business unit, Nam-Mic Holdings – and are trying to oust Mberiuana and Kasuto, allowing the millions of dollars in losses to continue.
Kasuto stressed that the N$250,000 was not deposited into his own account, as has been suggested, adding that the change in leadership was a “coup.” According to him, the new leadership wrote to the bank at the first opportunity to take control of the NAMIT account. “Lies are short-lived,” he said, calling for an extraordinary general meeting to be held as soon as possible.
Mberiuana and Somseb confirmed that the trust fund’s account had been frozen by the bank.
‘Unethical leadership’
A press conference was held yesterday at the Model UN headquarters in Katutura, where Mberiuana, Model UN Secretary General George Ampweya, Deputy Secretary General Paulus Situmba and National Training Coordinator Brian Tjihero presented their story to local media.
Mberiuana claimed that Kasuto and Somseb were removed from office due to a vote of no confidence at a special meeting held in Tsumeb on April 28. Subsequently, on May 11, their membership was suspended, he said.
“The president was removed from office for his unethical leadership,” he insisted.
Mberiuana said the union’s national executive committee had determined since April that Somseb had apparently altered the trust deed to designate himself as the founder and had not appointed other trustees.
He explained that the NAMIT board must have 17 trustees and only nine are registered with the High Court judge. According to Ampweya, of the nine trustees, two did not attend the April meeting and three are no longer qualified to represent the union as trustees. However, the relevant resolutions show that on the same day of the April meeting, they decided to transfer N250,000 to a law firm to cover future litigation costs against the trust. “However, our records do not show any litigation case against the trust,” said Mberiuana.
Old labor disputes
Meanwhile, the executive committee approved a resolution to conduct a forensic audit of the trust.MUN’s new leadership highlighted old industrial disputes and the suspension of membership of 11 miners at the Swakop uranium mine as examples of the leadership failures of Kasuto and Somseb, and one of the issues that MUN will now revisit.“The organisation is going through a process of self-correction, self-direction and renewal to ensure that MUN remains a member-centric organisation,” Mberiuana said, while appealing to union members to remain calm.
Somseb, on the other hand, said he and Kasuto were targeted because they spoke out against the misuse of MUN funds and began questioning irregular payments to foreign accounts. He claimed that Mberiuna and others were also involved. “They are here just for the money,” he said.
He said Nam-Mic transferred N13.5 million into the NAMIT account at the beginning of the year and another N13.5 million was expected to be paid in the last quarter of the year. Somseb said he was the one who requested the forensic audit and he is now applying to the High Court with Kasuto to place the trust under trusteeship and conduct an investigation.
“It’s an expulsion. I know the politics. This is what they are doing, so I can’t attend the convention as a fully paid member and I can’t answer questions,” Somsab said.
He said the “greedy leadership” within the union was engaging in “dirty politics” and that if the audit report came out, many people would be sentenced to jail, but he would continue to fight “even if it meant risking my life.”
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