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namib times SERVING THE COASTAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1958
NO 6324 FRIDAY 31 JANUARY 2014
Tel: 064 - 205854 / 064 - 461866 / Fax: 064 - 204813 / 064 - 461824 / Website: www.namibtimes.net
Namport workers strike
inside
Kop-aan-kop botsing eis sewe lewens
Piquet Jacobs An unexpected and illegal strike at Namport's Container Terminal operations by employees is causing havoc in the port and resulted in approximately 5 000 containers not being able to be moved yesterday. Namport held a media briefing yesterday to clarify questions surrounding the situation in the port after workers downed tools before lunch on Wednesday. More than 100 Namport employees went on strike and caused the entire Container Terminal's operations department to cease functioning. The department is responsible for the loading of containers from vessels and moving it to terminals and also from the terminals onto trucks. Since workers ceased to operate no containers have been moved and this can amount to huge financial losses for Namport and companies that depend on the prompt delivery of containers. Workers resolved to strike in protest to a newly ANGRY: Rubicon Security workers resolved to go on strike in order to force management to address the implemented method of handling containers in unbearable situations they have to endure. the yard. The new system was apparently implemented to improve efficiency levels at the Port of Walvis Bay, as well as the working relationship between workers and their supervisors. Jade McClune Continues on page 2
We are not baboons!
Training levy comes into force in April Jade McClune Companies with a yearly payroll of N$1 million or more have until 27 February to register for the payment of a compulsory monthly Vocational Education Training (VET) levy. Following drawn-out consultations, the final notice by the Minister of Education to impose the 1% VET levy was gazetted on 27 January. The monthly levy is set at one percent of the payroll of all companies that fall in this category. Cash-strapped municipalities and state-owned enterprises (parastatals) will not be exempted. Announcing the implementation of the levy on Tuesday, Ms Ester Nghipondoka, the acting Chief Executive of the Namibia Training Authority (NTA), called on “all eligible Continues on page 2
After a long and bitter dispute between workers and the management of Rubicon Security in Swakopmund, 40 security guards decided on Thursday to undertake immediate strike action to back up their demands. The situation has become unbearable and the guards are subjected to racism and discrimination at their workplace on a daily basis, said Mr Willem Antsino, a shop steward of the Namibian Independent Security Union (NISU). The security guards are outraged that the coastal area manager, Mr Johan Viljoen, apparently resorted to beating workers with a stick, named 'Frikkie', and calling them 'baboons'. The guards are accusing Viljoen of discriminating against black workers and they are demanding his immediate dismissal. At the scene of the strike the Namib Times asked to speak to some of the workers who were allegedly beaten, but the strikers said that after the abuse came to light several of the affected security guards were dismissed from duty. Only one worker at the demonstration yesterday confirmed that he had been beaten with the stick. The strikers are angry about practices they
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Africa must remove trade barriers Page 5
Warships heading for Walvis Bay
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Dispelling cancer myths Page 10
Lights, Camera & Action Page 13
consider to be downright discriminatory: “We are Property in treated as stupid and we are monitored,” while perspective white workers get favourable treatment, they alleged. They further charged that “white male employees are allowed to use the toilet inside" the company offices, but black workers are not allowed to use that facility. Viljoen apparently told them to go and urinate outside. The strikers claim that the manager referred to them as “baboons” and had threatened them. “We are not wild animals that must stay in the bushes”, Page 15 the strikers said in their petition. They accuse Rubicon Security of “racism, discrimination, Kashela’s moment intimidation, character assassination and of truth apartheid” practices. “If you refer to black workers as baboons, how do you refer to the same black Namibian leadership and the president?” they asked. In a statement read outside Rubicon's office in Continues on page 2
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