PUBLIC servants intend to petition the Swapo Party congress now in progress to demand for justice to be done in the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) Development Portfolio Capital (DCP) saga.

The chairperson of the Public Servants Committee (PSC), Adeline Black, yesterday said the group would try to hand over a petition before the end of the congress on Sunday, but knew it wouldn’t be given an opportunity to do so.

There is widespread belief that the former secretary general of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), Evilastus Kaaronda, was dismissed from the federation because he was seen as stoking the GIPF issue.

Sentiments are that his dismissal from the NUNW came at the time that it did, some weeks before the Swapo congress, to keep the GIPF matter off the congress agenda.

The petition of the PSC states that civil servants have unsuccessfully been seeking “full answers” from government regarding the disappearance of more than N$660 million of public pension money.

It appeals to the Swapo Party to allow the matter be discussed at the congress, and that the congress resolve that any Swapo Party member implicated in the GIPF saga not be eligible for any position in the party or the government, and be denied any government contracts, investments or trade of any sort.

The PSC said the Swapo Party should further resolve to apply more pressure on the government to speed up the investigation of the GIPF missing millions and to charge those who failed to execute their duties in this regard.

It registered a vote of no confidence in Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa for not seeing to the speedy conclusion of the matter, and demanded that the Judicial Service Commission approach President Hifikepunye Pohamba to immediately suspend all members of the judiciary implicated or linked to the missing funds for personal enrichment.

The PSC wants a credible, external and impartial agent agreed upon by the parties involved to conclude the investigation into the matter and want the culprits to be held accountable.

“The DCP/GIPF funds that disappeared should be condemned by the Swapo Party as the governing party and with its constitutional mandate to formulate policies in the interest of all citizens of this country,” the petition states.

The PSC questions how prominent affluent businesses and Swapo members have been able to access GIPF funds without any accountability, saying that the lack of attention and slow investigation into the disappearance of the GIPF funds over so many years compels Swapo members to express themselves on the matter at the congress.