Africa-Press – Namibia. MINISTER of public enterprises Leon Jooste insisted he is available to be appointed to other government positions – a week after he announced his current portfolio would be turned into a department of the Ministry of Finance.
Jooste was appointed as the first head of the Ministry of Public Enterprises six years ago in a bid to reform state agencies. Last week’s announcement is said to be linked to talks between Jooste and several senior government officials, such as president Hage Geingob.
The officials, including the president, allegedly understood Jooste to have informed them that he wanted to exit the Cabinet. Jooste told The Namibian yesterday that “it may have been misunderstood when I explained that I support the intended way forward”.
The ‘way forward’ is that the public enterprises ministry would be turned into the Department of Public Enterprises under the finance ministry. This would give minister of finance Iipumbu Shiimi the authority to control over 18 profit-driven state companies with a combined value of N$32 billion.
Two years ago, Jooste said these parastatals spent around N$21 billion, and made a profit of N$1,9 billion, which gives the state a return on investment of only around 1,2% a year.
Jooste has over the years taken unpopular decisions, including to close Air Namibia and the Roads Contractor Company (RCC). This has made him an unpopular figure, including among his Cabinet colleagues who have questioned his judgement and motives.
Countrywide protests staged this year by various unions and organisations called for Jooste’s resignation after Air Namibia’s closure. In some instances, fellow ministers have bluntly undermined his authority.
For instance, minister of information and communication technology Peya Mushelenga allegedly did not follow the public enterprises law when he appointed the new NBC board, chaired by businessman Lazarus Jacobs.
Jooste was yesterday interviewed on Desert Radio, during which he spoke about his life in politics. He referred to himself as an “accidental politician”.
He said he joined politics after establishing a relationship with founding president Sam Nujoma, who had invited him to his birthday party. “Then my father passed away when I went into politics. I had to take over our businesses again, and I found myself in a difficult position,” he said.
Jooste was appointed as deputy minister in the Ministry of Local and Regional Government by Nujoma in 2004, and in 2005 he was moved to the ministry of environment as deputy minister.
He resigned from that position in 2009. “I was happy when I left politics, but six months later I was feeling a void, something was missing. To be a servant was my calling,” he said.
Jooste yesterday said he does not know what the future holds for him now that his ministry is to be dissolved in the next three months. He said he is taking things one day at a time, and may only know in February next year what his next move would be.
“When I make decisions, I like to take one very big decision. I think we are misguided sometimes to think we can plan too many things way ahead – especially big things. Life does not work like that.
“There are all these curveballs that come at us all the time,” he said. His current focus, however, is to have the ministry transformed into a department, a move he believes to be a clever one. Jooste said the future does not worry him, and that he would remain a servant.
“Exactly where, or what sort of position, or whatever is really not a concern for me at the moment. I am not worried. I have experienced how well people can serve on various platforms,” Jooste said.
He also touched on the performance of various public enterprises, and Air Namibia’s liquidation. When the ministry was established, he said, governance infrastructure and how public enterprises were managed, both by boards and shareholders, were appalling.
“The president definitely did the right thing at that time to set up a dedicated ministry,” he said.
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