Labour experts say the Ministry of Justice and Labour Relations’ recently revealed 1 300 workplace inspections are inadequate.
Minister of justice and labour relations Wise Immanuel last week in parliament said 1 300 workplace inspections have been conducted during his tenure so far.
The scheduled inspections will come to an end on 30 September.
The minister on Friday at the government information centre said 55% of employers were found to comply with Namibia’s labour laws.
Around 2 100 labour complaints were resolved, he said, leading to the recovery of N$1.3 million in unpaid wages for affected employees.
Labour expert Herbert Jauch says although 1 300 is a significant number of inspections, it is a drop in the ocean compared to how vast the domestic, retail, and agriculture sectors are.
He says more needs to be done to cover all industries.
“The finding that 55% of employers are compliant is worrying, because it shows half of them after 35 years of independence are still frequently violating labour rights and the labour laws of the country,” Jauch says.
He says these figures indicate an urgent need to address a lack of capacity to cover more workplaces across the country.
Meanwhile, unionist Mahongora Kavihuha says the figures are not necessarily a true reflection of the labour industry as they lack regional analysis.
He also notes the lack of inspectors to carry out more inspections.
“It makes it difficult for us to comment more specifically on the plan in terms of how many inspections they were planning in a year, because these statistics were supposed to be in place,” he says.
Kavihuha says the stats do not show in which regions the inspections were carried out, and how many were conducted on a daily basis.
“When we engage labour inspectors themselves, they are frustrated because they are overworked. The number of labour inspectors across the country are very few. That’s a big concern,” he says.
In addition, he says some of these cases allegedly involve bribes, with many not reported.
Kavihuha says the 1 300 inspections conducted and 2 100 cases resolved are just the tip of the iceberg and proposes professionalising labour inspections.
The minister said the ministry conducted inspections across key sectors.
“Where non-compliance was detected, the ministry has acted firmly in line with the Labour Act, resulting in the issuance of about 69 compliance orders.
“Of the 69, 42 were issued to the wholesale and retail industry, 25 to the security industry, one to the construction industry, and another one to the hospitality industry,” he said.
Immanuel said follow-up inspections are ongoing to sustain compliance.
