Africa-Press – Namibia. Mineworkers Union of Namibia secretary general George Ampweya has condemned the narrative that minister of justice and labour relations Wise Immanuel should stay out of Cheetah Cement’s labour issue and let labour inspectors handle it.
This comes after Rally for Democracy and Progress president Mike Kavekotora advised Immanuel not involve himself in the Cheetah Cement case, citing that such involvement should be the duty of labour inspectors.
Kavekotora was reacting to a recent order from Immanuel to Cheetah Cement management at Otjiwarongo that all non-specialised positions be occupied by Namibians by the end of July.
These include two chefs and one administrative officer position currently occupied by Chinese nationals.
However, Ampweya says Kavekotora asking the minister not to intervene in the case was ‘backward’ thinking.
“Without fear, we will unreservedly pick a side which is the employees, but that ideology of Kavekotora’s backward thinking, that is anti-progress. We cannot want to say investors should feel comfortable at the expense of Namibian workers.
The directive of the minister is practical as far as compliance of the labour law is concerned, it’s our understanding that the directive of the minister speaks to compliance.
“We cannot have Chinese come here as chefs, cooks and push wheelbarrows while we do not have Namibian workers,” Ampweya said yesterday.
Cheetah Cement management and union representatives were further instructed to conclude all pending industrial issues, including understudy arrangements, market salary surveys, and determine the way forward, as well as 2025/26 salary negotiations, by 23 July and 8 August, respectively.
The unionist stated that Kavekotora is supposed to be fighting for the lives of Namibians.
He further said that as a union on the ground, they will ensure that the minister’s directive is carried out.
Kavekotora yesterday said that government officials and ministers should understand leadership and different management levels, tasks and responsibilities.
He argued that tactical management is tasked with strategic policy matters compared to functional levels of leadership that are more hands on. Even time utilisation in management varies from one level of leadership to another.
“It’s rather worrisome and time wasting to find a leader at a strategic policy level engaged in matters that can easily be addressed at supervisory levels. I was stunned to read in local newspapers that the labour minister allegedly ordered Cheetah Cement to replace two Chinese chefs and one administrator with Namibians. That is way below his operational levels,” he said.
Kavekotora stated that the minister cannot be remunerated at a strategic level and also operate at a functional level.
He questioned how many companies he (the minister) will have to visit to resolve similar matters.
He said the government has employed labour inspectors specifically tasked to do what the minister is doing and argued that this highlights a lack of a strong labour relations policy in Namibia.
He advised the minister to go back to the drawing board and make policy pronouncements to address those issues at his level.
“That indeed can be classified as harassment coming from such a high office. He must take the blame if Cheetah Cement relocates to another country. Did the minister take into account the reduction in Chinese employees as claimed by management? Is it important to reduce Chinese employees from 120 to the current 27?” Kavekotora asked.
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