Africa-Press – Namibia. Dozens of workers from Etosha Fishing, one of Namibia’s oldest fish-canning factories, say they are caught in a downward spiral of poverty, hunger, and hopelessness after years of inconsistent employment.
What was once a source of dignity and livelihood has become a daily struggle for survival, they say.
Many of the workers now survive on handouts and sleep in overcrowded informal homes, after being evicted for falling behind on rent. This, they say, is because their factory has failed to financially recover since the government imposed a moratorium on pilchard fishing nearly a decade ago.
One of the affected employees, Rosalia Amakali, says the uncertainty has pushed her and many others to the brink of despair. She spoke during a demonstration on Tuesday to highlight the dilemma they are currently facing.
A teary-eyed Amakali said they are desperate, hopeless, and stripped of dignity due to the current situation.
“We are lifeless. We are surviving on N$1 500 – and that’s not even enough for a food combo. Please do something for us. We are begging, as this is not the life we want,” she pleaded.
Amakali said life changed drastically after the moratorium was imposed in 2018, plunging Etosha into turmoil.
Etosha Fishing, once a thriving processing company in Walvis Bay, has been in survival mode ever since. The ban, introduced to protect depleted fish stocks, left the company without local raw materials and forced to rely on costly imports. This led to job losses, underutilised infrastructure, and growing frustration among workers.
In an attempt to keep the factory afloat, the government has at times issued small quotas – but these efforts have made little impact.
Some of the quotas were allocated too late, and vessels couldn’t be chartered in time to catch the fish, workers explained.
“Since September last year, I’ve only worked two weeks. When the quota finally came, it was too late. We couldn’t catch anything. We are hungry. We are hopeless. We are desperate,” Amakali said, her face marked by agony.
She explained that some workers, especially those displaced by shack fires, now live in temporary shelters or unserviced areas.
Amakali appealed to President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and the Minister of Agriculture Fisheries Water and Land Reform Inge Zaamwani Kamwi, to intervene and save Etosha’s workers.
“We even grabbed land… not because we wanted to, but because of the circumstances. As women and mothers, we are suffering in silence. We’re not asking for luxuries – just a job. We are Namibians too, but it doesn’t feel like it anymore,” she said.
She hopes both the president and minister, “as mothers too”, will understand what it means to go to bed without knowing how you’ll feed your children the next day.
Trapped in a cycle
Another employee, Johannes Ndamalu, who joined Etosha in 2015, said their suffering has generational consequences.
“We are living in a very difficult situation. Our phones ring non-stop from debt collectors. But we don’t even have taxi fare, let alone money to repay loans,” he said.
Ndamalu said their children’s futures are also bleak.
“We can’t even afford to help them upgrade their school results. Some didn’t qualify for Grade 12 under the new system, and we can’t pay for their second chance. That’s how poverty moves from parent to child.”
He said most factory workers are between 40 and 50 years old and still have school-going children.
“Our pleas are not just for us, but for our children. We want to break this cycle of poverty,” he said.
Another worker said it’s painful to know fish is available, but they are not allowed to harvest it.
“We see vessels bringing them in, but we’re not allowed to touch them. We have a canning line, a factory, and vessels. Why must we stay home?” the worker asked.
“Research shows pilchards are there. We’re not asking for all of it – just a quota to keep the factory running and people working,” he added.
Meanwhile, the president of the Namibian Seamen and Allied Workers Union (Nasawu), Paulus Hango, also appealed for government to allow Etosha Fishing to harvest pilchards.
“It does not make sense that those without pilchard quotas are landing it as bycatch, while companies that depend on pilchards cannot get a quota,” he said.
He added that many vessels targeting hake and horse mackerel are catching pilchards as bycatch, but there is no local value addition.
“Other people are benefitting from the resource, while we watch from the sidelines,” he stressed.
Hango urged the fisheries ministry to act before the pilchard season ends in September.
“Every day that passes is a missed opportunity. The workers are ready. The factory is ready. We just need the political will,” he appealed.
Horse mackerel companies earlier this month landed pilchards valued at N$23 million, while a recent study showed that the biomass of pilchards stood at almost one million tonnes. The line ministry, however, previously stated that the biomass needs to exceed a million tonnes before any harvesting is allowed again.
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