EMPLOYEES demonstrating at the office of the Roads Contractor Company (RCC) received a rude awakening this morning when armed policemen were called onto the premises to try and stop their demonstration.
The 50 demonstrators said they were shocked when a group of armed policemen descended on them while they were holding a peaceful demonstration in front of the office of RCC’s acting chief executive officer, Pieter Oosthuizen.
The employees are demanding that Oosthuizen pay their salaries in full after the failure of a newly introduced payroll system led to some employees only getting half of their salaries last month.
Police deputy commissioner Joseph Shikongo said they received an urgent phone call from someone at the RCC who was reporting a “hijack” incident in progress at the company. It turned out to be a false alarm.
The Namibian has it on good authority that Oosthuizen had made the phone-call to the police on the unrelenting demonstrators.
“What Oosthuizen did is criminal. He could have gotten us killed if those police officers had opened fire on us,” asked one of the angry demonstrators.
Oosthuizen’s communications consultant, Hilda Basson said she would respond later through a formal statement.
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