Father defends High Commissioner son

THE father of Namibia’s High Commissioner to Malaysia yesterday moved to try and clear his son of any involvement in the controversy that has erupted around the appalling living conditions of Bangladeshi textile workers in Windhoek.

Willy Gertze, who was responsible for illegal renovations to the property in Windhoek West, where more than 300 men employed by Ramatex have shared cramped living quarters for over a month, maintained yesterday that the situation had been wrongly portrayed. “From our perspective, this whole situation has been incorrectly handled.He [diplomat Neville Gertze] has got nothing at all to do with this.He just arranged work visas in Malaysia.He has no connections to us [the business of Willy, his other son],” he said.Gertze spoke to reporters when he arrived at the property yesterday just as the second group of Bangladeshis were leaving for the airport.According to Gertze, his son Desmond had gone into equal partnership with a certain Hanif, an agent from the Asian recruiting outfit Eastern Overseas and formed the Namibian company Saujana Blossom Import and Export Namibia.The company was contracted by Ramatex to arrange accommodation for the Bangladeshi workers.Gertze added that while related to him, the Windhoek Municipality’s Strategic Executive for Finance Roger Gertze also had no role to play in the accommodation of the foreign workers.He said his nephew had only been approached for “advice” on the city’s building procedures.Gertze said he and his son had been overwhelmed by the rapid influx of the Bangladeshis after being told by the agent that they would arrive in groups of 30.Accommodation for such large numbers in Windhoek, he said, was near impossible to find and the company was forced to start on building extensions without municipal approval.In recent weeks the company has rented more houses – two in Eros, one in Dorado Park and another in Rocky Crest – to accommodate the growing number of Asian workers.Gertze also felt that a wrong impression had been created that the situation was part of a money-making scam.Ramatex has said that it paid the company US$70 for every person it was responsible for accommodating.But Gertze said the building extensions had been costly and that at least N$20 a day was spent on transporting each of the men to the factory and back.”There has been no profit, only expenses.Everybody knows that any business can expect to lose in the beginning,” Gertze said.”That there was greed involved is not true.”He added that in fact the deportation of the men would have serious business implications as the company could not go back on an agreement to purchase the controversial house in Windhoek West, which has now become known as the ‘Ramatex Hotel’, at a cost of N$2,5 million.”With this fiasco, we don’t know what is going to happen,” he said.He did however mention that there were plans to convert the living quarters into a bed and breakfast facility once municipal approval had been granted to build a hostel for the men at Ramatex.The house is still registered in the name of Flip Bredenhann against whom the city has taken legal steps because of the illegal building renovations.Last year, Bredenhann also came under fire from the city after renting the property to Kenyan businessman Aziz Kyababa who also accommodated too many people in the house.Kyababa is responsible for the accommodation of another group of more than 60 Bangladeshis who have evaded deportation for now, to fight a court case against their alleged unfair dismissal from the factory last month.”From our perspective, this whole situation has been incorrectly handled.He [diplomat Neville Gertze] has got nothing at all to do with this.He just arranged work visas in Malaysia.He has no connections to us [the business of Willy, his other son],” he said.Gertze spoke to reporters when he arrived at the property yesterday just as the second group of Bangladeshis were leaving for the airport.According to Gertze, his son Desmond had gone into equal partnership with a certain Hanif, an agent from the Asian recruiting outfit Eastern Overseas and formed the Namibian company Saujana Blossom Import and Export Namibia.The company was contracted by Ramatex to arrange accommodation for the Bangladeshi workers.Gertze added that while related to him, the Windhoek Municipality’s Strategic Executive for Finance Roger Gertze also had no role to play in the accommodation of the foreign workers.He said his nephew had only been approached for “advice” on the city’s building procedures.Gertze said he and his son had been overwhelmed by the rapid influx of the Bangladeshis after being told by the agent that they would arrive in groups of 30.Accommodation for such large numbers in Windhoek, he said, was near impossible to find and the company was forced to start on building extensions without municipal approval.In recent weeks the company has rented more houses – two in Eros, one in Dorado Park and another in Rocky Crest – to accommodate the growing number of Asian workers.Gertze also felt that a wrong impression had been created that the situation was part of a money-making scam.Ramatex has said that it paid the company US$70 for every person it was responsible for accommodating.But Gertze said the building extensions had been costly and that at least N$20 a day was spent on transporting each of the men to the factory and back.”There has been no profit, only expenses.Everybody knows that any business can expect to lose in the beginning,” Gertze said.”That there was greed involved is not true.”He added that in fact the deportation of the men would have serious business implications as the company could not go back on an agreement to purchase the controversial house in Windhoek West, which has now become known as the ‘Ramatex Hotel’, at a cost of N$2,5 million.”With this fiasco, we don’t know what is going to happen,” he said.He did however mention that there were plans to convert the living quarters into a bed and breakfast facility once municipal approval had been granted to build a hostel for the men at Ramatex.The house is still registered in the name of Flip Bredenhann against whom the city has taken legal steps because of the illegal building renovations.Last year, Bredenhann also came under fire from the city after renting the property to Kenyan businessman Aziz Kyababa who also accommodated too many people in the house.Kyababa is responsible for the accommodation of another group of more than 60 Bangladeshis who have evaded deportation for now, to fight a court case against their alleged unfair dismissal from the factory last month.