Namdeb talks collapse

THE fight between Namdeb and the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) yesterday came to a head with the latter threatening solidarity mass action countrywide and the diamond giant filing an urgent application with the High Court to declare the 28-day strike illegal.

Negotiations collapsed after a last-minute intervention by Prime Minister Nahas Angula failed on Sunday. The urgent application will be heard on Thursday.Labour relations have soured since Namdeb, according to the MUN, ‘unilaterally repudiated’ a 2009 agreement paying employees working 14-day-shifts a monthly housing and utilities allowance ranging from just over N$1 000 to over N$2 500.Namdeb initially wanted workers redeployed from the defunct Bogenfels mine to either pay a renegotiated monthly rent of between N$100 and N$200 in Oranjemund’s single quarters, or forfeit their allowance.On Sunday, the MUN refused Namdeb’s final offer that the 53 redeployed employees affected by the Bogenfels shutdown would continue to receive their housing and utility allowances for a year and stay rent-free in Oranjemund while a tripartite committee reviews existing agreements and settles disputes which gave rise to the strike.At a press conference yesterday, Labour and Welfare Minister Immanuel Ngatjizeko described the relations between Namdeb and the MUN as ‘bad’.As the power struggle escalates, so does the economic impact of the strike. The 538 striking workers are losing on average N$620 in wages and benefits per person per day, Namdeb brand manager Pauline Thomas told The Namibian.By yesterday, the company’s net loss stood at N$112 million, and its production loss averaged 1 000 carats a day.Government, a 50 per cent shareholder in Namdeb, is losing about N$50 000 per day in income tax payments (PAYE) from workers. Furthermore, Government is losing approximately N$2,1 million per day in company tax and some N$600 000 per day in royalties.These figures could not be verified independently.Government’s commercial interest in Namdeb came under fire at a MUN media conference yesterday where Evilastus Kaaronda, secretary general of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), accused Government of being ‘more concerned about pocketing money for GDP [gross domestic product] and state coffers’ than workers’ rights. MUN president John Ndeutepo said Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy, was a ‘ruthless shareholder’.Government, through the Prime Minister, ‘connived’ with Namdeb managing director Inge Zaamwani-Kamwi in drawing up the final draft settlement agreement presented to the union on Sunday and tried to ‘bully’ the unions into signing it, the MUN and NUNW further alleged.’It was almost as if the agreement was written by the Namdeb MD herself,’ Kaaronda said.According to him, Angula ignored the changes suggested by the union completely. According to Ngatjizeko, the ‘union proposed to reverse the substance of virtually every provision previously agreed to, to scrap the tripartite committee, and to insert in the agreement a series of phrases that would apportion blame on the company and would decide the dispute over the 2009 agreement [on housing and utility allowances] in the union’s favour’.’In addition the union demanded that employees be paid for the time that they were on strike and that the general manager [of Namdeb mine] be asked to recuse himself immediately,’ Ngatjizeko said.’This reversal of positions brought an end to the Prime Minister’s efforts to bring the strike to an end,’ he said.Kaaronda said Angula told the union: ‘You can go. You are on your own.’’We are glad to be on our own,’ Kaaronda said. ‘Now we will show him [Angula] that on our own we can be so much stronger.’Kaaronda said besides defending Namdeb’s urgent court application, the union has the option to continue with the strike or call for a solidarity strike countrywide.’We would want to see a situation where we can teach these hypocrites a lesson,’ he said.Ngatjizeko said the MUN and Namdeb were on the verge of a breakthrough on August 31 when they signed a memorandum of understanding.’I don’t know what problems the union had in backtracking on the MoU when some of the proposals were their own,’ he said.Namdeb and the MUN are ‘still under an obligation to engage in collective bargaining’, Ngatjizeko said.’I hope that they see the wisdom to do so and put this bitter chapter to rest’.

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