NBC workers said they want the board chairperson Lazarus Jacobs to explain how they paid out bonuses to senior management among them the director-general Stanley Similo whom they said received N$500 000.The other senior manager whom the workers said was paid N$200 000 although she is acting is the chief of technology.
In an open letter in the possession of Eagle FM, the workers questioned the source of the N$5,4m that was paid to 16 senior managers last year during Covid-19 period when the broadcaster did not make a profit.
They also said Similo was quoted in March 2020, saying that NBC could by April 2020 lose out between N$30 to N$40 million in revenue.
“This whole bonus does not make sense especially in the case of the DG because he was reappointed to a new 5-year contract in October 2020. So how does he get rewarded with N$500 000 after only 4 weeks of performance? The same question can be asked for most of the chiefs whose contracts were also just renewed last year. How did the new board, which was only 2 months in the office, manage to justify this suspicious transaction?
“Mr Jacobs and rest of the Board must explain how they awarded bonuses worth N$5.4 million on performance bonuses of 16 managers and executives yet have not bothered to pay increment to the general workers for 3 years and counting,” the workers said.
They also asked how the Lazarus Jacobs-led board awarded performance bonuses when there is no performance appraisal within the NBC.
“On what grounds were these monies paid to these individuals? To a logical mind, this is a pure case of theft under false pretences or at best it is administrative corruption,” they charged.
Eagle FM asked Jacobs the following questions:
1. How do you justify the bonuses paid to 16 senior NBC management staff when the entity has been bailed out by government?
2, Is it true that the NBC DG was paid N$500 000, and the acting chief technology N$200 000 when they had not shown any performance since NBC is making losses?
3. NBC workers say the bonuses were paid out even when equipment is obsolete. How far true is this?
4. Is it true that Vickson Hangula is being paid N$300 000 yet he has not produced any local content?
His responses:
Questions 1-3 were covered already by various press releases and your radio station even covered it on a previous occasion. Check with your colleagues and refer to your records when you covered the peaceful strike by NBC employees a couple of weeks ago.
4. That’s an operational matter. Contact our DG.
Similo did not answer his phone. He also did not respond to questions sent via his phone.
