The Erongo governor’s office has ordered a mining contractor at Karibib to halt its operations immediately after a pile of jobseekers’ CVs was found dumped at the town.
The CVs were allegedly collected by M15 Mining Contractor, contracted by Osino Resources Corp, during a recruitment drive for skilled and unskilled workers linked to mining activities in the area.
The incident came to light after a community member discovered a pile of discarded CVs and alerted local and regional authorities.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the office of Erongo governor Natalia Goagoses described the incident as “disrespectful and unacceptable towards jobseeking Namibians”.
“The governor has directed the company involved to halt operations with immediate effect and appear before the Office of the Governor to account for the matter,” the statement reads.
The governor says the intervention was aimed at maintaining “harmony, mutual respect, and constructive relations” between communities and companies operating in the region.
Following the intervention, the Karibib Town Council said the incident was linked to a misunderstanding during a relocation and clean-up process by the contractor.
Karibib chief executive Tangeni Enkono says the municipality was unaware of the recruitment exercise when it took place.
“We are aware of the incident, and we were also caught by surprise because it is a contracting company, but not M15,” he says.
Enkono says preliminary information indicates that the dumping of the CVs was not deliberate.
“It seems the company was relocating and there was a miscommunication in cleaning up and discarding of the CVs,” he says.
Enkono says the contractor did not engage the municipality before conducting the recruitment process.
“The council usually advises companies that come into town on the recruitment process and how it is conducted. However, this company was not in touch with the council,” he says.
He says the council has since engaged the company and provided guidance on recruitment procedures at the town.
“We’ve since managed to solve that and inform them on the recruitment processes,” Enkono says.
