RCC liquidation test of governance

RCC liquidation test of governance Intent to liquidate the Roads Contractor Company is being seen as interference in the operations of the public entity by some ministers.

This is the view of its board chairman, Fritz Jacobs, who has opposed the liquidation of the RCC for some time now.

He made the comments on the sidelines of an event at the offices of the ministry of works and transport recently.

According to him, political preferences stood in the way of good corporate governance practices exercised by the board of the RCC.

“We have allowed politicking and personal preferences to interfere in the good corporate governance of the RCC. So much so, that the current state of RCC, after the new board took over, is not the doing of RCC itself, but a deliberate choking of the initiatives of the company,” Jacobs told Namibian Sun.

According to him, the RCC board was also accountable to the employees. Should the RCC liquidation be allowed to proceed, Jacobs said the board would be failing in its duties of protecting the interests of not only government but those of the employees who would possibly stare unemployment in the face.

“The detrimental political and public influence, which was allowed to propagate, is against the widely accepted principles of ensuring that the interest of all stakeholders is protected, as opposed to only the views of some.

This will be the fundamental test of corporate governance versus politics for all state-owned enterprises and the local business environment,” said Jacobs.

The minister of public enterprises, Leon Jooste, did not respond to a query following Jacobs's utterances.

The Namibian reported last week that the RCC board had sought legal opinion of the intended closure of the RCC.

According to an opinion drafted by Shikongo Law Chambers, should the government decide to liquidate the RCC, there must be more equitable and just reasons to do so besides the debts the entity has accumulated.

“If an application is made for the winding up, security must be furnished to the satisfaction of the court for the payment of the debts of the company. The debts must then be paid within 12 months from the date of the lodging of the application,” the law firm said.

OGONE TLHAGE