Africa-Press – Namibia. MORE than 60 employees at the Oshakati Eloolo Abattoir claim they didn’t receive their January and February 2022 salaries.
Despite the fact that there has been no production at the abattoir since December last year, employees were told that they would be paid until end of February. The abattoir is jointly managed by local partner KIAT Investment Holdings and Chinese firm Ningbo Agriculture Investment Group.
When The Namibian visited the abattoir on Tuesday, employees said production at the abattoir had come to a standstill, and there was no indication when it will will start again or when salaries would be paid.
According to their employment contracts, signed in September last year, they would receive monthly salaries until 1 March 2022. “They must tell us why our salaries have not been paid. We don’t know whether we are still employees or we have been retrenched like those who were retrenched last year.
“If we are retrenched, at least they should pay us our January and February salaries,” said employee Fillipus Moses. Cooling technician Paulus Iipinge said this is not the first time they are not being paid.
“In 2016 we were only paid after six months and we were only paid N$6 000. That time we were working for KIAT Investment,” he said.
He added that despite slaughtering cattle and selling meat, they were told that there was no money to pay salaries. Some employees said they were promised high salaries, which were not delivered.
A manager at the abattoir said it was closed because of a fallout between KIAT Investment Holdings and their Chinese investor, and that KIAT Investment Holdings chairperson Sikunawa Negumbo had allegedly threatened to break the joint venture and source an alternative investor. This allegedly prompted Ningbo not to invest N$30 million in the project as planned.
The abattoir was initially given to KIAT Investment Holdings to manage by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform in 2017, but the company struggled financially and were forced to bring the Chinese partners on board.
According to an internal document leaked to The Namibian last week, KIAT Investment Holdings allegedly hired their relatives and associates who had no meat processing experience.
“Recruitment was initially done on experience and skills, [but] nepotism and favouritism overruled all logic, resulting in incompetence and unskilled managers and slaughter line workers.”
“Plant management were overruled by KIAT directors in any decision on appointment or positioning of appointees. This led to disciplinary anarchy,” the document shows.
In addition, it showed that KIAT Investment Holdings directors were allegedly victimising employees. In September last year, the abattoir retrenched 42 employees because of a salary bill of N$688 000 per month, and after their water and electricity were cut off.
This follows less than a year after KIAT and Ningbo started managing the abattoir. Contacted for comment on Thursday, Negumbo said Ningbo is responsible for paying salaries. He also denied that his company victimised people.
“The mistake came from the Chinese because they wanted to fire everyone they felt should be fired. We refused. They wanted to do it like they do in China. This is Namibia, you have to follow the law otherwise you will be taken to court,” he said.
He also refuted claims that KIAT Investment Holdings hired relatives and inexperienced people, insisting that they only hired former Meatco employees.
Contacted for comment, Andy An, who is the personal assistant and translator for Ningbo Agriculture Investment Group manager Victor Zhaing, did not respond to questions sent to him.
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