Defence truck drivers unhappy with low salaries

TRUCK drivers recruited by the Namibian Defence Force two years ago are unhappy with their working conditions and unfulfilled promises of salary increments allegedly made by the defence ministry.

The drivers, who claim to number about 50, said they were recruited by the NDF in 2016 with a number of artisans, such as electricians, boilermakers and plumbers.

According to the drivers, who spoke to on condition of anonymity out of fear of victimisation, the ministry had promised to pay them the salaries they were earning in their previous jobs.

One of the drivers said some of them were earning between N$12 000 and N$15 000, and even more, per month before they were recruited by the defence force.

However, they claim that after joining the military, their average earnings dropped to between N$6 000 and N$7 000. That is almost half of what some of them previously earned, and is below what they needed to meet their monthly obligations and needs.

“We were called by officials from the ministry before we went for the six months’ training, and they told us the conditions of employment, including the promise of retaining our (prior) salary packages,” one driver explained.

“Some people had cars and houses bought through bank loans before they joined the NDF. Those cars were repossessed by the banks because their salaries could not cater for all those things. We are not even given subsistence and travel allowances when we travel long distances,” he stated.

The defence ministry’s spokesperson, Petrus Shilumbu, told this week that the ministry was aware of the drivers’ complaints, and that it was “an internal matter, which we cannot clarify over and over”.

Shilumbu, however, added that the ministry had not promised the retention of previous salaries to the drivers, and that the issue was “already addressed last year”.

“The members who are complaining were informed accordingly, and if there are members not satisfied, they should follow the chain of command to address their grievances. The ministry is not obliged to discuss internal matters in the media or in public, and as such, soldiers know what procedures are to be followed,” he stressed.

He added that soldiers are paid according to the posts they occupy and ranks they hold, and that “if there is anyone in possession of such proof (of the promises made), they should submit it to the chief of staff of human resources at the Ministry of Defence through the normal channels”.

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