NBC Board faces tough challenges
By Staff Reporter

- Kaapanda wants ‘money-making, not loss-making’ entity
- Chairman promises ‘ruthless implementation’ of turnaround strategy
- NBC’s salary bill hits nearly N$108 million per year
- Govt subsidy this year stands at N$103 million

The new Board of the cash-strapped Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, has taken over the Corporation’s administrative responsibility, an occasion which Information and Communication Technology Minister, Joel Kaapanda, described ‘as smooth transition and handover.’

The new Board was inaugurated on Thursday at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, and none among those who spoke had any illusion about the tough challenges that lay ahead.

While the Minister politely thanked the outgoing Board for a job well done during its tenure of office, he was quick to point out that the NBC had experienced management problems, misuse of resources and lack of strategic direction.

“Hence the task of the new Board will be to restructure and revamp the administration structures and procedures, staff recruitment and promotion, financial management system, procurement and asset management,” said Minister Kaapanda.

“This means that the new Board will require developing a turnaround strategy that will streamline the operations of the NBC. Despite the fact that the NBC has a well-established infrastructure that would enable it to generate adequate revenue for self sustenance, it continued to rely on Government funding.”

Therefore, he added, through restructuring process, the new Board was tasked to improve efficiency and service delivery as well as to ensure that NBC became a profitable organization by strengthening its marketing unit.

Minister Kaapanda appealed to the NBC Board to ensure stability at the Corporation, high morale and conducive working environment that would improve individual performance of all staff members.

“I have no doubt in my mind that the Board I present to you today will deliver because it is a business Board, which comprised of eminent personalities with excellent business records behind them. They will run the NBC on business principles by turning it around from a loss-making into a profitable corporation,” he said.

Outgoing Chairperson of the Board, Frieda Shimbuli, said the outgoing Board was leaving with pride, having completed its five-year term which came to an end this month. She said she was proud of the achievements made over the last five years, which she said should be credited to all NBC staff members, and not to a single individual.

Among the achievements she had singled out were the review of NBC’s outdated policies on grievance, performance management, recruitment and selection and training and development. Television news bulletin had also been lengthened from 28 minutes to one hour. Parliamentary coverage had also been lengthened from 30 minutes to one hour.

“I cannot list all the achievements and reform initiatives, but all I can say to the entire outgoing Board is that your talents, your dedication, your tireless efforts made it worthwhile to travel on the same journey as you at the NBC. To all staff members of the NBC, thank you very much for your support and good will that we as the outgoing Board members received during our tenure”, said Shimbuli.

New chairperson of the Board, Sven Thieme said that he and his colleagues in the Board looked at their appointments as their national duty to support government to have parastatals run in way which had the interest of the nation at heart.

“I also believe that we need as a country to work on our values further and one of them is that we should not only look at what government can do for us as citizens but equally what can we as citizens do for the government – with this I can assure you that we as a board will do everything possible to make a difference and lift the NBC to the next level,” he said.

But Thieme was also quick to point out that for the turnaround strategy as suggested by Minister Kaapanda to succeed, there were several steps that needed to be followed. A due diligence would have to be made, and, depending on the outcome, corrective measures, if not overhaul, would have to be made. He also promised to launch a new culture and craft the future with a robust strategy inspired by a great vision.

“And trust me, we don’t need to reinvent the wheels here. There are pockets of good work that have been done in the past and that we will take and build upon. We then need the ruthless implementation of the strategy. Many may think that this is a daunting task,” said Thieme.

“However, if we follow a structured process, trust me I cannot see why we will not create a great institution. My dream is always to create a world class institution and hopefully we will achieve exactly that again.”

The new Board members are Thieme as chairman, (he is Chief Executive Officer of the Ohlthaver and List Group of Companies), Andrew, Kanime, (General Manager of Human Resources and Strategic Training at Telecom Namibia;) Diana Louisa van Schalwyk, (Director of Corporate Affairs and Marketing at Hartlief.)

Only two old Board members were retained. These are Yvonne Boois, who is now Acting Director General, and Rev Ludwig Siyaka Hausiku. Boois is a Trust Manager at the Namibian Literacy Trust, while Hausiku is the Kavango Regional Secretary for the Council of Churches in Namibia. Shimbuli, Dean of Students at the Polytechnic,) Colonel Gallen Colokwe of the Namibia Defence Force, NDF, Engel Nowatiseb, Mayor of Tsumeb and Eric Biwa, were not reappointed.

The outgoing Board was appointed in 2005, only to find that the NBC had an operational budgetary shortfall of N$44 million. That shortfall was inherited from the previous Board. The current Board takes over the NBC that is technically insolvent. The last Auditor General’s Report contained damning findings for the NBC’s financial position.

When Kandetu was fired early last year, Matthew //Gowaseb was appointed Acting Director General in the middle of last year. When he took over, the NBC had 366 permanent employees whose salary bill stood at N$5 million per month. In less than 10 months, new recruitments and promotions pushed the salary bill up.

Now, the NBC is financially suffocating through careless spending and lack of financial discipline, with its salary bill now standing at nearly N$9 million per month, up from N$5 million per month last year.

NBC staff complement has risen to nearly 500 permanent employees, up from 366. That rise has pushed the NBC’s annual salary bill to nearly N$108 million. This year’s government subsidy is N$103 million. NBC’s own contribution this year is N$35 million from the Marketing Division, and N$17 million from TV licences and other sales.

A forensic audit report on NBC conducted by Grand Namibia in 2006 revealed some damning findings on appointments, promotions and transfers.

Between 2001 – 2006, it only found three requests for advertisements out of 228. Of the 228 appointments tested over the same period, the audit found only 82 advertisements. Of the 228 appointments tested, only 107 job applications could be found.

Of the 228 appointments tested, only a short-list of potential employees for 51 interviews could be found. Of the 274 promotions tested, only 56 performance appraisals could be found. Grand Namibia was commissioned by the Auditor General’s Office.