Suspended Namibia Wildlife Resorts Senior Internal Auditor Panduleni Ndilula survived the disciplinary charges against him but is not yet out of the woods.
Ndilula’s disciplinary hearing was only concluded last month while he has been on suspension since February last year.
NWR acting managing director Zelna Hengari confirmed on Monday that Ndilula had been exonerated.
“There were various counts on the charge sheet, some of which were dropped during the hearing process. The hearing continued with the remaining counts, upon which he was found not guilty. In fact, the company is content that it turned out this way, as it validates a fair and transparent disciplinary hearing process, unlike claims made by your newspaper of a witch-hunt against this employee or others,” she said.
Ndilula’s lawyer Norman Tjombe confirmed that his client was cleared of any wrong doing, and that there were outstanding issues, which could affect his client’s resumption of duty.
“During his suspension, management abolished his position of senior internal auditor, without his knowledge or consent.
At this stage, he is not certain to what [position] he will return to on Monday 10 February 2014,” Tjombe said of his client’s predicament.
The Namibian understands that there were structural changes made at NWR, among them the internal audit department will now fall under the office of the managing director and will no longer report directly to the Board’s Audit and Finance Committee.
Asked to explain why the line of reporting was changed, Hengari said there has been no change in the reporting line of the department.
“It reports functionally to the chairperson of the Finance and Audit Committee of the Board and administratively to the Office of the Managing Director as provided for by the Internal Audit Charter,” she added.
Hengari rubbished claims that the parastatal wanted Ndilula out and said the disciplinary hearing was handled independently from NWR and chaired by an independent chairperson.
Ndilula’s case was concluded in July last year and it was unclear why it took six months for a decision to be made. He was suspended and charged with misconduct because he allegedly saw information he was not supposed to see.
Ndilula was suspended alongside the head of the audit department Jerry Shangadi, IT manager Ruben Francisco and Diana Mugaviri, the company’s operations manager.
At the time, sources said the charge emanated from an IT audit conducted at the company, which allegedly revealed that Ndilula received emails from his superior Shangadi and Francisco. The IT audit was allegedly done on the instruction of Hengari.
Sources further said that Francisco allegedly gave Shangadi and his department access to managers’ email correspondence as a result of an internal investigation carried out by the Internal Audit department.
Shangadi was mainly investigating two senior managers, Hengari and Seblon Chicalu, who is the acting head of human resources at NWR.
Ndilula was allegedly charged because he failed to report that his superior forwarded him an email that was not intended for him or relevant to his job.
The four were suspended for alleged ‘espionage’ after it was discovered that the group supposedly had access to other managers’ email correspondence.
NWR internal audit division then submitted reports to the board listing transgressions allegedly committed by the two.
Ndilula’s disciplinary hearing was only concluded last month while he has been on suspension since February last year.
NWR acting managing director Zelna Hengari confirmed on Monday that Ndilula had been exonerated.
“There were various counts on the charge sheet, some of which were dropped during the hearing process. The hearing continued with the remaining counts, upon which he was found not guilty. In fact, the company is content that it turned out this way, as it validates a fair and transparent disciplinary hearing process, unlike claims made by your newspaper of a witch-hunt against this employee or others,” she said.
Ndilula’s lawyer Norman Tjombe confirmed that his client was cleared of any wrong doing, and that there were outstanding issues, which could affect his client’s resumption of duty.
“During his suspension, management abolished his position of senior internal auditor, without his knowledge or consent.
At this stage, he is not certain to what [position] he will return to on Monday 10 February 2014,” Tjombe said of his client’s predicament.
The Namibian understands that there were structural changes made at NWR, among them the internal audit department will now fall under the office of the managing director and will no longer report directly to the Board’s Audit and Finance Committee.
Asked to explain why the line of reporting was changed, Hengari said there has been no change in the reporting line of the department.
“It reports functionally to the chairperson of the Finance and Audit Committee of the Board and administratively to the Office of the Managing Director as provided for by the Internal Audit Charter,” she added.
Hengari rubbished claims that the parastatal wanted Ndilula out and said the disciplinary hearing was handled independently from NWR and chaired by an independent chairperson.
Ndilula’s case was concluded in July last year and it was unclear why it took six months for a decision to be made. He was suspended and charged with misconduct because he allegedly saw information he was not supposed to see.
Ndilula was suspended alongside the head of the audit department Jerry Shangadi, IT manager Ruben Francisco and Diana Mugaviri, the company’s operations manager.
At the time, sources said the charge emanated from an IT audit conducted at the company, which allegedly revealed that Ndilula received emails from his superior Shangadi and Francisco. The IT audit was allegedly done on the instruction of Hengari.
Sources further said that Francisco allegedly gave Shangadi and his department access to managers’ email correspondence as a result of an internal investigation carried out by the Internal Audit department.
Shangadi was mainly investigating two senior managers, Hengari and Seblon Chicalu, who is the acting head of human resources at NWR.
Ndilula was allegedly charged because he failed to report that his superior forwarded him an email that was not intended for him or relevant to his job.
The four were suspended for alleged ‘espionage’ after it was discovered that the group supposedly had access to other managers’ email correspondence.
NWR internal audit division then submitted reports to the board listing transgressions allegedly committed by the two.
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