By Eveline de Klerk
ARANDIS – Former employees of the now defunct Dantago Clothing factory at Arandis are asking the Ministry of Trade and Industry to extend a helping hand and revive the factory.
The former employees, now unemployed and mostly women, say that they have skills but lack machinery and material to take over the factory.
Arandis’ Dantago Clothing was once a flourishing clothing factory and for years stood as the backbone and lifeline of many households in the small mining town, employing 450 people mostly women. Since the closure of the factory in January 2014, the employees have struggled to secure decent jobs.
Meanwhile, the landlord, who rented out the building to Dantago Clothing factory, claims that the former tenant owes N$1.8 million in unpaid rent. Arandis municipality also said it is owed N$100 000 on water and electricity bills.
New Era found respresentatives of the landlord inspecting the premises last Friday and has also learnt that only 20 percent of the 450 former employees could secure jobs at the mines while some moved to other towns in search for jobs. The rest still struggle to find jobs.
Dantago Clothing supplied clothing to mines and retail giants, such as the South African retail group Woolworth, which it supplied for about nine years. However, the contract ended when Woolworth implemented a systematic process to buy back all its Southern African Development Communities (SADC) franchises as part of restructuring its business model on the continent.
Dantago sewed the garments at its Arandis factory and then transported the garments to Woolworth South Africa for distribution among Woolworth’s various retailers throughout Africa. New Era visited one of the former employees of Dantago, 41-year-old Ndeshi Uilitala at her home, where she has resorted to making clothes to sell in the community as well as nearby towns such as Usakos and Swakopmund. “This is what some of us are currently doing. We have no choice as we have bills to pay and mouths to feed, besides sewing is what I have been doing for the past 16 years,” said Uilitala.
Another former employee and mother of four, Selma Ndjambula said that her wish is that government look into the plight of the former employees of the factory and possibly revive it. “We have so many skills. Some of us has been employed more than 16 years by the company and have trained many others as well,” she explained.
According to her, many women failed to secure jobs after being retrenched by the factory. “Some were lucky and got employed by the mine, some moved away in search for jobs,” she explained. “Reviving the factory will be a blessing in disguise for us who didn’t get jobs up to now,” Ndjambula said.
The public relations officer of the Arandis Municipality, Andrew !Hoaeb, says council is aware of the situation and has already engaged various stakeholders to came up with a workable solution that could be breathe new life into the factory. “There are ongoing talks about Dantago Clothing and we will soon know about the outcome of the discussions,”!Hoaeb said.