Kaaronda sure of getting NUNW job back

THE fired secretary general of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), Evilastus Kaaronda, is confident that he will be able to return to his job as early as next week.

His lawyer, Clive Kavendjii, yesterday said they believed that Friday’s conciliation meeting at the Office of the Labour Commissioner will go in their favour.’We might finalise the matter then and then he can go back to work. We see no reason why we shouldn’t succeed on Friday.’Last week, Kavendjii said that Kaaronda was considering approaching the Supreme Court to have his dismissal overturned.Yesterday, he said they were still keeping their options open.Acting Judge Petrus Unengu earlier dismissed an urgent application by Kaaronda to be reinstated.Kavendjii last week said they were very disappointed with the High Court ruling.He said they were eagerly awaiting Acting Judge Unengu’s reasons for striking the matter from the roll.Kaaronda had appealed to the High Court for an urgent order to have him reinstated so that he could attend this week’s Swapo congress as part of the NUNW delegation.In an affidavit, Alfred Angula, the acting secretary general of NUNW, said the fact that Kaaronda was selected to represent the union at the Swapo congress was not enough reason for an urgent court application. Kaaronda’s selection was based on his position in the union at the time, Angula said.’The agenda of the said congress is set by Swapo and not by the federation [NUNW].’ Therefore Kaaronda couldn’t claim that he would represent the interests of the workers, Angula charged in the affidavit.