Govt Workers Want 10 per cent

NAMIBIA has been hard hit by the increase in prices of fuel and other commodities such as food as well as transport.

This is a headache to all government employees as their salaries remain peanuts. The government must look into this matter seriously before we also go on strike like the South Africans.It is believed that there will be an increment this year of 5%, but to me this is nothing at all compared to the way prices have gone up in Namibia.There is even a very big gap between the salaries of private employees and the public employees and also if you compare the salaries of the parastatals which is even semi-government one may raise a question whether the government or public employees are appreciated for the work they are doing or not.This is really a very big problem that must be addressed by our Parliamentarians before another mass strike hits southern Africa.At least the increment should be 10 per cent in order to accommodate us public employees within the inflation rate of goods and services that has hit Namibia.One fails to understand our Namibian government – they are encouraging us to stop relying on government houses or official accommodation and start building or buying our own houses.The question is how can staff members earning a salary of N$20 000 per annum or even N$80 000 per annum buy a house when the cost of houses especially here in Windhoek only starts at N$250 000 upwards.Now if I buy a house from my small salary, what do I eat at the end of the day and what about my children’s school fees because all my salary will go the house.Please can our government look into this matter and give us a better increment that may motivate us as public servants; otherwise all the best employees will leave the government for private companies.Concerned Via e-mailThe government must look into this matter seriously before we also go on strike like the South Africans.It is believed that there will be an increment this year of 5%, but to me this is nothing at all compared to the way prices have gone up in Namibia.There is even a very big gap between the salaries of private employees and the public employees and also if you compare the salaries of the parastatals which is even semi-government one may raise a question whether the government or public employees are appreciated for the work they are doing or not.This is really a very big problem that must be addressed by our Parliamentarians before another mass strike hits southern Africa.At least the increment should be 10 per cent in order to accommodate us public employees within the inflation rate of goods and services that has hit Namibia.One fails to understand our Namibian government – they are encouraging us to stop relying on government houses or official accommodation and start building or buying our own houses.The question is how can staff members earning a salary of N$20 000 per annum or even N$80 000 per annum buy a house when the cost of houses especially here in Windhoek only starts at N$250 000 upwards.Now if I buy a house from my small salary, what do I eat at the end of the day and what about my children’s school fees because all my salary will go the house.Please can our government look into this matter and give us a better increment that may motivate us as public servants; otherwise all the best employees will leave the government for private companies.Concerned Via e-mail