WALVIS BAY – At least 22 of the 612, dubbed ‘Okapale fishermen’, who resigned in August, have withdrawn their resignations and are back on the payroll of the Cavema joint venture.
More fishermen, according to the joint venture, are expected to make a comeback in the coming weeks.
This was confirmed yesterday by the chairperson of the joint venture Robert Shimooshili to New Era.
He said the 22 fishermen earlier told the joint venture they were misled and their signatures were forged on the four-page resignation petition, which was handed to the company earlier.
“Yes, 22 of them made police declarations that their signatures were forged. They are back on our payroll and more fishermen are expected to make the same declarations before the police,” Shimooshili said.
According to him, a series of consultative meetings are taking place to discuss the employment conditions and the mass resignation of the fishermen.
“We at this stage cannot say if all of them will be allowed to come back as discussions are still underway. I am currently attending another meeting with government officials to discuss the issue,” Shimooshili said.
The fishermen in a statement issued last week, said they resigned as no jobs were created since they were re-employed in 2020.
According to the fishermen, they are proud, hardworking men and do not wish to be turned into lazy beings, dependent on an allowance while they can render services to the country.
Kuiseb Fishing Enterprises, Hadago Fishing, Cavema Fishing, Rainbow Fishing, Vernier Investment and Camoposatu Investment employed the fishermen through the joint venture.
However, they resigned on 22 August 2022, saying no employment was created since the Cabinet directive in 2020, and that they want to work for better salaries that can sustain their families.
Meanwhile, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) secretary general Manuel Ngaringombe in a statement on Monday said the turmoil in the fishing industry as well as the ongoing Fishrot saga is painting a bad image of Namibia to the international community, hence fisheries and labour ministries must solve issues in the fishing industry as soon as possible.
According to Ngaringombe, it is noteworthy that something was done as the joint venture was subsequently established and fishing quotas were allocated to them by government to employ the unemployed fishermen.