Africa-Press – Namibia. Staff Reporter
HIGH Court judge Hannelie Prinsloo has ordered the continued operation of the government’s payroll deduction system, effectively halting plans by the Ministry of Finance, which intended to discontinue the deduction system by the end of November 2025.
In a court order, the judge directed that the Ministry of Finance must desist from interfering in the loading of new deductions onto the Payroll Deductions Management System (PDMS), and also desist from issuing instructions that no new deductions may be loaded onto the PDMS.
The judge further ordered that the continued operation of the PDMS (with or without Avril Payroll Deduction Management (Pty) Ltd) as at 17:00 on 29 August 2025 is authorised, pending the determination of the relief sought by Entrepo Finance, which took the Ministry of Finance and 36 other respondents to court after the announcement that the government payroll system would be discontinued.
The finance ministry, in October, announced that subject to further consultations with stakeholders, the period of stakeholder engagement regarding the proposed reforms to the Payment Deduction Management System (PDMS) would be extended to 28 February 2026.
The announcement by the Ministry of Finance on the phasing out of the payroll deduction system for civil servants has brought about mixed reactions, with some stating that this will prejudice them in the timely payment of loans and drive them to unregulated lending solutions, while others are of the opinion that it would reduce debt uptake.
The Ministry of Finance announced that it would discontinue payroll deductions for all government employees, with the Payroll Deduction Management System (PDMS) slated to shut down on 30 November 2025.
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