The company made the offer through its lawyer, Silas-Kishi Shaku, at a Labour Court hearing yesterday.

Mbai was allegedly dismissed without a hearing and his appeal was rejected by the company.

Now the parastatal is talking of re-employing him.

Court documents indicate that Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi was given the two sides an unspecified time to work on a possible out-of-court settlement.

It is believed that Mbai's lawyer, Clive Kavendjii, will present at least three options to the company but it might not include a possible return of Mbai to the parastatal.

Kavendjii told The Namibian earlier that Mbai was not interested in reinstatement because the relationship between him and the company had deteriorated beyond repair.

"Reinstatement is a non-starter.

It is not practical.

The fact that my client was not accorded a hearing shows a certain attitude from the employer's side," said Kavendjii.

Mbai was allegedly dismissed without a hearing and his appeal was rejected by the company.

Another case of a former TransNamib manager, Bernhardt !Gaeb, was in court on Friday but was postponed because Judge President Petrus Damaseb had an urgent matter to attend to.

Damaseb was supposed to listen to TransNamib's legal team as the company attempts to put on hold the execution of a labour court order, that the parastatal pay N$468 200 to !Gaeb, until their appeal against the judgement can be heard.

The Labour Court instructed the company to keep !Gaeb on its medical aid for the next four years and to pay him full pension benefits.

!Gaeb resigned in January following an alleged witch-hunt against him, Mbai and two other former managers - Erenfried 'Tjivi' Ndjoonduezu and Godhard !Howaeb.

!Gaeb's case will be back in court on Friday but earlier indications were that the company might push for an out-of-court settlement.

Sources said the company had indicated to !Gaeb that they were willing to pay him damages and re-employ him.

However, no offer had been made in writing by yesterday afternoon and both Kishi and !Gaeb's lawyer Jeff Tjitemisa refused to comment on the case.

The former managers were sacked for alleged misconduct related to absenteeism.