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08:04Last update on: 13 Aug 2013
The Namibian
Tue 13 Aug 2013
SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf SMS Of The Day * WHY doesn’t NBC listen when they are criticised? The little red chairs on Good Morning Namibia have done their part and are dirty especially at the arm rests. Please listen for once. You interview professionals and internationals on those Food For Thought * MINISTRY of Education, in order to address the shortages of teachers at primary schools why don’t you consider employing us who hold a diploma in lifelong learning and community education for teaching posts? We also did health education Bouquets And Brickbats * MY fellow Namibians, I am not a Swapo member but a third term for President Hifikepuye Pohamba will be a step closer towards attainment of Vision 2030. Believe me His Excellency has made crucial bold decisions, and I don’t regret
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NEWS - NAMIBIA
| 2013-07-24
Meatco won’t renew 400 contracts
Ndanki Kahiurika
LAYING OFF ... Meatco’s Jannie Breytenbach, Vekuii Mbura announced yesterday that the company will not Rukoro, Nico Weck and Stanley Hoveka renew contracts of around 400 workers.
THE Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) is to let go of over 400 contract workers on Monday as a way of cutting losses caused by the recent decline in cattle volumes.
• NDANKI KAHIURIKA
The country’s biggest beef exporter announced yesterday that the drought has, amongst other factors, made it impossible for the company to keep the Windhoek and Okahandja abattoirs running, placing 400 workers in the firing line.
According to Chief Executive Officer Vekuii Rukoro, the cattle volume had reduced from an annual 128 000 to around 90 000 this year. For next year they expect only 78 000 cattle.
Rukoro said abattoir throughout started to decline considerably this month already and for August Meatco will only have around 6 000 cattle available to slaughter.
“This is a very low number and will not be able to economically sustain operations at both facilities.”
“The supply of slaughter cattle in Namibia is now reaching near criticial levels, and as we have learned from the previous drought of 1996/7, it will take at least five years to stabilise,” Rukoro said.
Rukoro also added that the decision is aggravated by the government’s inability to maintain the open borders, which has led to over 132 400 cattle being sold to South Africa from January to June this year. Last year during the same period only 48 000 live cattle were sold to South Africa.
“This is an alarmingly significant amount of cattle that have left the country,” he said.
Most of the cattle sold across borders are of breeding kind, which means they could have been used for restocking in the future, added Rukoro.
“We are left with two choices, to either close one of the factories altogether or allow our temporally employed workers to leave. We opted to follow that route,” said Rukoro after adding that the company had to ensure survival and deemed it fit to scale down its operations.
The company, which employs over 1 700 workers, claimed that the workers will not be given any packages as they are not retrenching them but rather just discontinuing their contracts, which were to end in August anyway.
The company also claimed to have a strategy in place to fund workers who lose their jobs.
Although the company did not give details they said SMEs Compete, a training organisation, will give the workers a chance for self-employment.
Meatco stopped slaughtering sheep in May this year due to losses they made over the five years of business. They indicated that the slaughtering of sheep was not their core business and sheep farmers had preferred to use abattoirs closer to them.
The state- owned enterprise was also involved in a struggle of ownership with the government.
Recently, agriculture minister John Mutorwa announced that the voting has started for a new board for Meatco.
One of the retrenched workers said their Okahandja plant manager Gert Olivier informed them on Friday that they will get paid the salary of a week for every year that they have worked but he claimed it is not a retrenchment.
“He told us that we cannot continue our work there but that after two years there might be jobs for us,” said the worker.
Olivier could not be reached to verify the statement by the worker as calls to his cellphone kept going to voice mail.
The contract workers allegedly reported the issue to the Namibia Food and Allied Union but there has been a delay from the union’s side.
Nafau’s Simon Muukapi said the delay was caused by gaps in the information provided to them.
The country’s biggest beef exporter announced yesterday that the drought has, amongst other factors, made it impossible for the company to keep the Windhoek and Okahandja abattoirs running, placing 400 workers in the firing line.
According to Chief Executive Officer Vekuii Rukoro, the cattle volume had reduced from an annual 128 000 to around 90 000 this year. For next year they expect only 78 000 cattle.
Rukoro said abattoir throughout started to decline considerably this month already and for August Meatco will only have around 6 000 cattle available to slaughter.
“This is a very low number and will not be able to economically sustain operations at both facilities.”
“The supply of slaughter cattle in Namibia is now reaching near criticial levels, and as we have learned from the previous drought of 1996/7, it will take at least five years to stabilise,” Rukoro said.
Rukoro also added that the decision is aggravated by the government’s inability to maintain the open borders, which has led to over 132 400 cattle being sold to South Africa from January to June this year. Last year during the same period only 48 000 live cattle were sold to South Africa.
“This is an alarmingly significant amount of cattle that have left the country,” he said.
Most of the cattle sold across borders are of breeding kind, which means they could have been used for restocking in the future, added Rukoro.
“We are left with two choices, to either close one of the factories altogether or allow our temporally employed workers to leave. We opted to follow that route,” said Rukoro after adding that the company had to ensure survival and deemed it fit to scale down its operations.
The company, which employs over 1 700 workers, claimed that the workers will not be given any packages as they are not retrenching them but rather just discontinuing their contracts, which were to end in August anyway.
The company also claimed to have a strategy in place to fund workers who lose their jobs.
Although the company did not give details they said SMEs Compete, a training organisation, will give the workers a chance for self-employment.
Meatco stopped slaughtering sheep in May this year due to losses they made over the five years of business. They indicated that the slaughtering of sheep was not their core business and sheep farmers had preferred to use abattoirs closer to them.
The state- owned enterprise was also involved in a struggle of ownership with the government.
Recently, agriculture minister John Mutorwa announced that the voting has started for a new board for Meatco.
One of the retrenched workers said their Okahandja plant manager Gert Olivier informed them on Friday that they will get paid the salary of a week for every year that they have worked but he claimed it is not a retrenchment.
“He told us that we cannot continue our work there but that after two years there might be jobs for us,” said the worker.
Olivier could not be reached to verify the statement by the worker as calls to his cellphone kept going to voice mail.
The contract workers allegedly reported the issue to the Namibia Food and Allied Union but there has been a delay from the union’s side.
Nafau’s Simon Muukapi said the delay was caused by gaps in the information provided to them.
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(August 13)
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