Namdeb Dispute: A Lose-Lose Situation

THAT the Bogenfels dispute and industrial action was allowed to run on for more than 15 days, in the process causing losses of N$50 million to Namdeb and Government, is beyond my understanding.

The company informed the media this week that N$40 million of the N$50 million which went down the drain through the industrial dispute had been destined for the State coffer.
Looking at news coming from Namdeb and the Mineworkers’ Union of Namibia corridors, the dispute is not a simple disagreement over housing and other allowances. More so after MUN Oranjemund branch secretary Gert Iikela said workers would continue their strike, described as illegal by the company, until the company’s general manager, Mitford Mundell, was removed.
The workers are calling for Mundell’s head because he allegedly compromises safety at the mine and does not respect the interests of the Namibian workers.
I believe Mundell is but a scapegoat and that the Namdeb sparkle will fade even further unless the deep-rooted differences are solved.
Such differences are, unfortunately, not limited to Namdeb.
In almost every parastatal we see ‘fat-cat clubs’ living large while the workers at grassroots level struggle to make ends meet.
Think about it: how much will it cost Namdeb to give the group of workers the allowances they want? Juxtapose that against how much the company is losing daily because of the strike.
I do not want to promote illegal action by workers. I am against unruly behaviour but there is a need to look closely at how polarised our society is. So much so that it prevents us from addressing the root of our economic troubles: the continuing stagnation of ordinary workers’ incomes despite rising corporate profits, wages of the elite and, to some extent, worker productivity.
Ok, it could be a principle issue for Namdeb not to bow to what they see as unnecessary pressure by the workers. They probably do not want to set a precedent.
But do we generally ever see grossly overpaid executives go on strike? Why not?
Exactly because they have remuneration which ensures that members of the ‘fat-cat club’ are well paid without having to haggle over the millions they deny the ordinary workers.
On the other hand, the ordinary workers spend hours to threaten, toyi-toyi or even strike in order to earn a pittance, just to keep their heads above water. And as soon as the workers have their demands met, it is negated by the huge increases then awarded to members of the ‘fat-cat club’ while the price of necessities such as food and transport also take their toll.
It is why workers use strikes such as the Bogenfels one as a tool of leverage in labour-management conflicts, withholding their work to win fairer treatment and respect from recalcitrant employers.
Strikes such as these must not be taken lightly.
There is clearly a need for bosses to also tighten their belts. No one can dispute the fact that, in Namibia, inequality continues to deepen to levels not seen before.
This then has a ripple effect on the dependants of the ordinary workers who must scramble for a piece of the meagre salary.
If we do not look objectively at strikes such as the one at Bogenfels there is the risk that such events will become annual occurrences.
Let us thus not maintain poverty by failing to provide adequately for workers’ needs because it represents a shocking indictment of huge companies such as Namdeb in which the Government has majority shares.
As things stand currently, there is no winner at Namdeb. Neither the workers; nor the employer. It is a lose-lose situation. Something we can all avoid.

No ‘Back To Basics’ For NUNW In Swapo

IN sport, one does not change the rules of the game at the end of the match, or when you are losing.

You keep to them until the end or else don’t compete in the game at all.
The inability of the unions under the National Union of Namibian Workers’ (NUNW’s) umbrella to extricate themselves from being the master’s (Swapo’s) voice is making their theme of this year’s May Day, ‘Going Back to Basics’, a mockery of the workers’ plight.
Apart from some union leaders who continue to live in cloud cuckoo land and can best be described as ‘yes-men’ of some political elites, unions affiliated to the ruling Swapo Party continue to be the breeding ground of corrupt, undemocratic, elitist leaders.
These are ‘thugocrats’ who threaten the future of unions for personal political interests and rule them with strong-arm tactics they inherited from their masters in the ruling party.
I am saying all this because we have had theories that this year’s May Day would be all about workers’ anger and their demands for better living conditions. But really, it was all about political interests and careerism among some leaders who see unions as a stepping stone to a political career.
The Walvis Bay Workers’s Day rally was supposed to centre around NUNW going back to the basics.
As one newspaper reported, the aim was to restore lost pride in the workers’ movement.
But then the president of NUNW, Elias Manga, used the platform to state that “you can never separate a child from his parents - Swapo is our father and mother”. In the same breath he said the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) N$600 million debacle “is the business of the union”.
What a contrast.
It is the same as throwing the debate about the affiliation of NUNW to Swapo and workers’ unity in the same hat. They contradict each other.
How can you be united when some unions do not pay affiliation fees to the umbrella body and thus contribute to the low-profile celebration of May Day?
Workers of Namibia can never be united while the unions are affiliated to Swapo. That is unless you do not count the working-class members of other political parties as workers.
The NUNW needs to create room for non-Swapo members to join and take leadership.
In any case, there are also Swapo members in other unions like the sea-going personnel at Lüderitz and Walvis Bay who continue to vote faithfully for the ruling party during elections but remain members of unions affiliated to the opposition the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (Tucna), which is independent of any political party.
I believe that even Paulus Hango, the president of Tucna, is a Swapo member. He is just more principled as a union man and does not consider his own political career (if he has) above workers’ interests!
As long as the revision of the NUNW affiliation to Swapo is a sensitive issue, there is no room for going back to basics with the same vigour and zeal that was displayed prior to the country’s Independence.
Currently, NUNW and its affiliated unions are at the service of politicians.
That is why they invite them and they use the platform to humiliate workers instead of coming to such events to answer questions about the concerns of the working class.
Therefore, it was also interesting to note that NUNW secretary general Evilastus Kaaronda, who probably organised the Walvis Bay event, did not address the workers at the celebration.
I personally believe that Kaaronda is a young man of refreshing openness who has a penchant for directly interacting with workers while others behave like Swapo apparatchiks.
He took on the GIPF issue when everyone else took a backseat and joined workers to demand answers. In the process he now faces disciplinary action. Anyone but a blind man could have seen the writing on the wall for that. The good thing is that Kaaronda will go down a brave union man, if his opponents in NUNW were to manage to get rid of him.
And once he is gone, others should stand up for the same principles. There is no place for the faint-hearted in unionism.

No Need To Save The Press

SANDWICHED between Workers' Day on Sunday and May 4 (Cassinga Day) is May 3. It is the day media workers and all associated with freedom of expression pause to reflect on their freedom. I do the same.

This year will mark 20 years since the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom. It was in 1991 when Windhoek played host to a key conference on media freedom which did not only resonate in Namibia and Africa but around the world with similar historic documents on promoting independent and pluralistic media. It was later adopted by the Africa Union heads of State and governments.
The Windhoek Declaration is a statement of press freedom principles put together by African journalists and calls for free, independent and pluralistic media throughout the world. It also emphasised a free press is essential to democracy and a fundamental human right.
Some 20 years later Namibia has “recovered its former pre-eminent position” to top the southern African region on press freedom as indicated by last year's Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index rankings.
However, media freedom on the continent remains a far cry from the picture the declaration hoped for as many countries continue with their repressive activities against scribes at independent institutions while governments also continue to own some media houses.
This year’s theme is ‘21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers’ which signifies the new challenge facing the media with internet and the arrival of the digital revolution.
Online social networks have mushroomed over the past few years reshaping the media landscape and opening up information channels to many people.
With the recent Egyptian revolution, for instance, Twitter and Facebook helped the people communicate with the outside world. The two were also used during the earthquake in Japan to help communicate with the victims and their families.
Recently I also read about American colleges and universities who check prospective students’ Facebook and Twitter profiles before making an admission decision!
While the social networks have helped advance many causes in the process, some governments see it as a threat to their “stable democracies” and have attempted or continue to censor information.
Others have taken upon themselves to ‘save the press’ by setting up regulatory institutions and other forms of watchdogs. In public their role is to ‘help’ the media to maintain ethics but clandestinely some institutions, which we know, are mainly involved in monitoring media sources in a bid to curtail information.
Before Namibia’s Independence, the role of the fourth estate, for instance The Namibian newspaper, was particularly important for the ruling Swapo as it exposed the atrocities of the apartheid regime and helped inform those inside the country about what was happening outside.
The paper was always commended for standing for truth and defending the rights of the people.
The Namibian's operations depended a lot on investigative journalism of a kind that is now threatened by unwarranted telephone taps and economic sanctions by those who know very well what the paper stands for.
Those in power today talk about 'classified' information when priorly they depended on such information from media houses such as The Namibian before Independence.
They don't seem to get it that serious journalists do indeed deal with classified information and, after all, their job is to find out what government officials do not want revealed!
With this year's theme being '21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers', it is therefore an appropriate time to remind ourselves that the struggle for Namibia's Independence was not fought to turn the country into another police state and that truth can never be characterised as defamation.
Of course, it is a different story if the journalist gets it wrong or behaves in an unethical manner.
But there is definitely no need for governments to save the press.

NUNW Congress: Issues Triumphed Over Personality

FOR the first time in many years, Namibian workers have spoken not only loudly but also demonstrated that they can take their destiny in own hands. Worker issues triumphed over personality at last weekend’s National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) congress.

While many thought that history would repeating itself and that the Secretary General of the NUNW Evilastus Kaaronda was about to be kicked off the podium at the congress, as they did with Peter Naholo five years ago, the workers’ voice kicked in and the planned hostile takeover by a group which has been flexing its muscle at both industrial union and at federation level failed.
Naholo was sacked after he dared to differ in public with a group aligned to former President Sam Nujoma. That group included the likes of former NUNW president Alpheus Muheua and Peter Nevonga of the Namibia Public Workers Union (Napwu). Interestingly Kaaronda was also in that camp and assumed the mantle after Naholo left.
Naholo took issue with Muheua and his group after they backed Nujoma’s account of the events of April 1 1989 and was shown the door. Shortly thereafter Naholo resigned from Swapo and joined the Rally for Democracy and Progress.
His resignation was further proof that rifts in the NUNW often reflect power struggles in the ruling party.
That is because the NUNW, Namibia’s largest umbrella group of unions, is not only affiliated to Swapo but also has voting rights at ruling party congresses.
Because of that, since Independence, workers’ issues have not always received top priority at the NUNW congresses, but were overshadowed by Swapo political intrigues.
Delegates mainly arrived at congresses ready to fight over leadership of the umbrella body knowing that the group which takes over the engine room will automatically ensure 15 votes for a particular clique in the ruling party.
That was also one of the main reasons why so many ‘men in dark glasses’ (intelligence) were present at the congress. They were there to maneouvre things to ensure a victory for the candidate of someone’s choice.
But, having campaigned in the region, prior to the congress, the group underestimated the power of the working class and believed that they could bulldoze their candidates through.
However, it was not to be this time around.
First, there was a clear division among those who were previously united. The outcome of the voting showed that there was no block voting by industrial unions.
In the past, Kaaronda would have been an ideal candidate for Nevonga and the congress would have been a formality.
Over the last weekend, it was a matter of dog eat dog as former allies spent hours campaigning against each other. Nevonga was backing a different horse and Kaaronda had to rely on the support of the workers. He played his cards well. Or, rather, he articulated workers’ concerns well.
Having picked up on the vibes well in advance, Kaaronda spoke openly about issues that concerned workers like the Basic Income Grant, Government Institutions Pension Fund, Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) vs Transformation of Economic and Social Empowerment Framework (TESEF), high unemployment rate and the Chinese investors, among others.
Tired of being used and abused, workers responded positively.
They had enough because, over the past five years, Ramatex closed down and it resulted in a loss of around 4 000 jobs while some unionists in cahoots with the new predatory elite syphoned workers money at institutions such as GIPF for own gain.
Even the central executive committee, which decided to pull out of BIG to please President Hifikepunye Pohamba, was given a vote of no confidence after the congress directed the NUNW secretariat to rejoin the poverty alleviation initiative.
Workers feel unemployment every day. It is their sons, daughters, wives, husbands and relatives who remain jobless and must live off their meagre salaries.
They were no longer the complacent, disempowered and unorganised crowd which would normally be coerced into and be limited to slogan-shouting but they pressed for debates and decisions on policies that will benefit the working class. If a similar trend prevailed with industrial union congresses as happened at last weekend’s watershed congress of the NUNW, this will only benefit the workers. A similar attitude at the congresses of affiliate unions can surely only benefit the workers.
In the meantime, Kaaronda and others who were voted into office must take their mandate seriously and use the next five years to the benefit of workers.
For starters, they need to relook at companies in which workers have shares and how they benefit the members. For too long only an elite group have benefitted from such companies while workers do not even have a special fund to rely on when they lose jobs.

* This column also appeared in The Namibian.