All is not well at Poly

By Asser Ntinda

Registrar dubiously enrolls own daughter in a degree course.

Allegations of corruption and nepotism are flying high at the Polytechnic of Namibia, with staff members and students alleging that Namibia’s second biggest institution of higher learning is dragging its feet on the formation of a trade union.

The Registrar of the Polytechnic, Mr Korneers Jafta, has also come under fire for having allegedly engineered his daughter to be admitted on a sponsored programme, despite the fact that she did not meet the requirements but was nevertheless preferred over those who met the requirements.

Students are now up in arms over how the Registrar’s daughter, Ludmira Jafta, was admitted for a degree course on the medical science programme, even though she did not have the required points.

In 2007, the Polytechnic advertized the two programmes under its Health Science Division, namely the Medical Science and Environmental Health programmes. Thirty students were needed in each programme. As a requirement, successful applicants needed to have high grades in mathematics, physical science and biology, at least 30 points and above.

More than 600 applications were received from which 30 successful applicants for each programme were selected. When the pre-selection started, many needy students especially from rural areas were allegedly left out, even thought they had met the requirements, while Jafta’s daughter was admitted though she had fewer points.

One student who applied for the course said that she had worked hard to get good points when she saw the advertisement in the newspapers in 2007. She had 34 points, but her application was rejected.

“I do not understand why I did not get admitted at the Polytechnic,” she told Namibia Today. “I was reliably informed that some students who did not do well, as I did, were admitted. It is very sad for me to tell you that one of the students admitted to the Medical Science Programme is Ludmira Jafta who did not have enough points to qualify for admission.

“I want the leadership of the Polytechnic to investigate this case. It reeks of corruption and nepotism. I am very disappointed. The Anti-Corruption Commission, ACC, should investigate this case. It is very serious. How can the Registrar admit his own daughter at the expense of others when she did not have enough points? He may claim that he was not directly involved in the pre-selection, but he worked closely with the consultant who did the pre-selection.

“Mr Jafta holds that Office in trust. He should not just be fair to everybody but he must be seen to be fair. I would not have quarreled if his daughter had met the requirements. I consider this to be corruption.”

In an open letter addressed to the Chairman of the Polytechnic, Labour Commissioner, ACC, and the Minister of Education, staff members and students at the Polytechnic said that they were fed up with the manner in which the institution was being run, adding that the time to speak out was now.

Last month, labour inspectors visited the Polytechnic and, according to the staff members, conducted themselves professionally and procedurally. But as the discussions went on, the Vice Rector for Administration and Finance, Mr Gert Gunzel, allegedly walked out of the meeting when the idea of forming a union was brought up.

“This is a show of disrespect for the laws of Namibia,” read part of the four-page Open Letter. “They have unions and present old information to the Labour Commissioner to justify that the trade union we want to set up was not needed here.

“The Polytechnic is the only publicly funded institution established by law which does not allow the creation of a union in the workplace. We want to see what the Polytechnic Council will do after the behavior of Gunzel.”

The students and staff members have also alleged that the Rector of the Polytechnic, Dr Tjama Tjivikua, has “ceded” most of his powers to Neavera Olivier, Director of Planning and International Relations. She started as Dr Tjivikua’s personal assistant and quickly rose to become a director.

Dr Tjivikua and Olivier allegedly travel a lot while the institution is sinking in problems. They were allegedly in Thailand and South Africa last month. There is a circular about this but the Council has not taken any action so far. Nepotism and favouritism allegedly also plays a role when it comes to recruiting people, with relatives and friends (names supplied) being preferred over competent and qualified people.

“We the workers are treated as if we have no rights at the Polytechnic,” read the Petition. “We tried to establish our union but one of us was fired in the Library. Fifteen years of the rule of Tjivikua is enough. An in injury to one is an injury to all.

“This is a government institution and no people’s personal bedrooms and properties. We start our union, whether you like it or not. If you try to victimize us, we will tell more. We the workers know that victimization is taking place in different ways. We will fight till the end. The Polytechnic must stop to be a high school. The workers will fight until the end.”

Dr Tjivikua could not be reached for comment as he is said to be out of the country.