Africa-Press – Namibia. Over 650 workers at the Chinese-owned Sinomine Copper Smelter at Tsumeb will be laid off as the smelter temporarily suspends operations.
Sinomine on Thursday announced that the smelter will be placed under care and maintenance due to challenging global market conditions.
Company spokesperson Alina Garises said the company aims to reduce overall costs by 30 to 40% until the market improves.
This is expected to send 650 workers home.
“As a part of the restructuring process, a voluntary separation programme will be introduced for employees,” she added.
Garises said the increased smelting capacity in major copper-producing regions has led to global overcapacity.
She said this has caused a shortage of copper concentrate, which in turn has placed pressure on smelters around the world, including those in Namibia.
“During this period, we will redirect our focus to key strategic projects that position us for long-term success,” said Garises.
It appears the Chinese mining company is planning to retrench workers, despite a three-year no-retrenchment merger condition. Sinomine Resource Group took over Dundee Precious Metals in a merger last August.
Authorising the merger last year, the Namibia Competition Commission (NaCC) set a number of conditions including that “there shall be no retrenchments of Namibian employees of the target undertaking as a result of the merger for three years post closing of the transaction”.
NaCC spokesperson Dina Gowases says the commission was unaware of the planned cuts.
“But should they happen and are found to be in violation of the set conditions, remedial sanctions would follow. There is a commitment to no retrenchments of Namibian employees for three years following the merger,” she says.
The commission also stipulated that should the undertaking identify potential retrenchments, it should notify the commission one month before these retrenchments are due to be effected.
The Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) has rejected the planned voluntary separation, describing it as a blatant disregard for workers’ rights.
According to MUN general secretary George Ampweya, the plan is a tactic to bypass proper labour practices and reduce costs at the expense of workers.
“The process is an assault on workers’ dignity and constitutional rights,” he says.
In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy, the union labelled the voluntary separation scheme as both flawed and contrary to the government’s public commitments to decent work and job security.
“With hundreds of livelihoods at stake, MUN is demanding formal negotiations, transparency on restructuring plans, and an end to practices that erode hard-won labour protections. While companies may face financial pressure, people must remain the priority,” says Ampweya.
Tsumeb constituency regional councillor Gottlieb Ndjendjela expresses dismay about the looming job losses.
“This will send our people into the streets. It will affect their livelihoods, and the economy of Tsumeb as a town. These are people with kids, they have accounts and some of them live in company houses which they are still paying off. How will they do all that? It goes against the Swapo manifesto of creating jobs,” says Ndjendjela.
Ndjendjela says the political leadership advised the company to negotiate salary cuts rather than cuts job or voluntary separation.
Retrenchments at the smelter also happened under Dundee Precious Minerals where about 200 employees lost their jobs.
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