WORKERS of the !Uri!Khubis Abattoir at Witvlei want intervention from the Ministry of Labour to ensure that they get their outstanding salaries.
The crisis-gripped black economic empowerment company, currently teetering on the brink of liquidation, failed to pay its employees last month and there is still no indication it would secure funds to meet the obligation. “Our situation has become very desperate, but the [!Uri!Khubis] directors are keeping us in the dark about the future of the company,” the workers’ representative Liberius Kalili told The Namibian yesterday.”We have been left with no option other than to approach the Ministry [of Labour] because we fear that all these people [directors] might just disappear and leave us stranded without our pay.”Kalili said that !Uri!Khubis is currently struggling to make ends meet and the majority of them, mainly those from outside Witvlei, are facing eviction from their houses due to non-payment of rental.He said it would be better if the company released all the workers to go to their respective homes while sorting out the problems, “instead of keeping us here on empty promises that thing would be okay”.Kalili revealed that the workers had already approached the Ministry of Labour to come to their rescue on Friday and are now awaiting its response.He charged the company’s directors were not making enough effort to inform the workers about the current and future state of facilities, as well as their (workers’) fate.”The directors have been avoiding us because they do not want to come out clean and tell us if they would liquidate the company and retrench the workers,” Kalili charged.Vice Chairman of the !Uri!Khubis Board, Kapanda Marenga, recently promised the workers that their May salaries would be paid on Wednesday last week but this did not materialise.Marenga later suggested to The Namibian that the company was waiting for the finalisation of the Due Diligence assessment of its operations which is being conducted by auditing firm KPMG, before deciding on its future.The outcome of the Due Diligence assessment is expected to be released today.The !Uri!Khubis Abattoir has been experiencing serious cast-flow problems since last year and its operations came to an abrupt standstill in October.Initially, the facility’s financial problems were mainly linked to Namibia’s self-imposed month-long ban on beef to the European Union (EU) last year.But relentless allegations by communal farmers in Omaheke Region of “unfair practices” have fuelled speculations of mismanagement of funds at the company.Omaheke communal farmers hold 30 per cent of the shares in the company.The !Uri!Khubis, an empowerment project, was started with N$38 million from the Agricultural Bank (AgriBank), N$5 million from the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) and a further N$4 million from Namibia Harvest Investments.”Our situation has become very desperate, but the [!Uri!Khubis] directors are keeping us in the dark about the future of the company,” the workers’ representative Liberius Kalili told The Namibian yesterday.”We have been left with no option other than to approach the Ministry [of Labour] because we fear that all these people [directors] might just disappear and leave us stranded without our pay.”Kalili said that !Uri!Khubis is currently struggling to make ends meet and the majority of them, mainly those from outside Witvlei, are facing eviction from their houses due to non-payment of rental.He said it would be better if the company released all the workers to go to their respective homes while sorting out the problems, “instead of keeping us here on empty promises that thing would be okay”.Kalili revealed that the workers had already approached the Ministry of Labour to come to their rescue on Friday and are now awaiting its response.He charged the company’s directors were not making enough effort to inform the workers about the current and future state of facilities, as well as their (workers’) fate.”The directors have been avoiding us because they do not want to come out clean and tell us if they would liquidate the company and retrench the workers,” Kalili charged.Vice Chairman of the !Uri!Khubis Board, Kapanda Marenga, recently promised the workers that their May salaries would be paid on Wednesday last week but this did not materialise.Marenga later suggested to The Namibian that the company was waiting for the finalisation of the Due Diligence assessment of its operations which is being conducted by auditing firm KPMG, before deciding on its future.The outcome of the Due Diligence assessment is expected to be released today.The !Uri!Khubis Abattoir has been experiencing serious cast-flow problems since last year and its operations came to an abrupt standstill in October.Initially, the facility’s financial problems were mainly linked to Namibia’s self-imposed month-long ban on beef to the European Union (EU) last year.But relentless allegations by communal farmers in Omaheke Region of “unfair practices” have fuelled speculations of mismanagement of funds at the company.Omaheke communal farmers hold 30 per cent of the shares in the company.The !Uri!Khubis, an empowerment project, was started with N$38 million from the Agricultural Bank (AgriBank), N$5 million from the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) and a further N$4 million from Namibia Harvest Investments.
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