Namibians stranded in Uruguay

ACCORDING to the vice-president of the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (TUCNA), Dawid Imbili, Namibian crewmen are ‘stranded in Uruguay’ due to irregular contracts and licensing of foreign-flagged vessels on which they were working.

He was speaking at a press conference in Walvis Bay on Thursday.’We have learned with shock when we were approached by three Namibian crew who went missing for quite some time through a Spanish captain, and they confirmed that there are still Namibians stranded in Uruguay. How will we rescue them and what does the Ministry of Transport or the Directorate of Maritime Affairs (MDA) do on this matter?’ he said.According to him, there were a total of five Namibians, who are now back in Namibia, employed on the fishing vessel Escatero in 2001, after they were recruited from the Walvis Bay harbour and signed a ‘Spanish contract’ when they arrived in Uruguay.According to Imbili the crew, Eduarde Mbalobumo, Gabriel Nghishekwa, Joseph Hamukwaya, Boas Ngenokesho and Haimbodi Jelomino (all Namibians) worked there for eight months before the vessel was repossessed by the Uruguayan authorities, but the captain, Ernesto Garsia, who was also allegedly the owner of the vessel, allegedly ‘fled’.’The Namibians were left without food; no salaries; and no water as Namibia does not have an embassy in Uruguay,’ according to him. ‘They suffered a lot until they found one union there that got hold of our embassy in Brazil.’According to him ‘not much was done’ except that this foreign union bought them plane tickets to return to Namibia – although without any money – in 2003.’There families here thought they were dead,’ he said.They were apparently stuck in Uruguay for one year and six months, but according to Imbili, but the news was unknown because they allegedly did not tell local authorities of their situation. That was until about two weeks ago.One of the crewmen was about to look for work again on a fishing vessel when he recognized Garsia.’They approached us, and with the help of the police in Walvis Bay, he was arrested,’ Imbili told The Namibian.Garsia was forced to pay all five of the men their dues, which, according to him, amounted to about N$14 000 per person.’There are still several Namibians in the same situation over there and who are stuck – and our hands are cut off to help them,’ Imbili said.He called upon the MDA and Namibian government to assist in bring these crewmen back to Namibia.’There should be stricter control when it comes to foreign recruitment of Namibians so that they don’t end up in a predicament like this,’ Imbili said.