Please allow me space in your newspaper to air my views and comments, and respond to a recent article in New Era.
The Namibia Transport and taxi union is hereby calling on all taxi drivers within the confined borders and from all corners of Namibia to make ready and avail themselves for the upcoming congress of NTTU and to put themselves up for elections.
We the taxi drivers of Namibia should not allow individuals from other sectors, and industries who come with their own interests, to connive to take over our organization, which was established for taxi drivers by taxi drivers.
Therefore, the president and founder member of NTTU is calling on all taxi drivers to come, stand together and support each other to build this industry into a bigger, better organized and recognized sector with good codes of ethics and professional conduct.
As a founding member of this organization, I will not allow or tolerate a scenario, whereby individuals from other sectors totally take hold of our organization. It was formed solely for public transporters, as per e.g. MUN for mine workers, NANTU for teachers, NANU for nurses, etc., so should NTTU belong to the taxi drivers.
A word of advice to all taxi drivers: we should not feel intimidated in our own union, any driver who wants to stand for elections should do so.
As a driver you are secured for any position of your choice – you’ll enjoy first privilege before individuals from other industries are to be considered provided they stand unopposed.
So for those who are advising some of our committee members to push for elections before all drivers realize their right to participate fully in the organizational structures of the union, you are advised to first peruse through our constitution.
As per local newspaper article that the taxi union can’t get going on 25 September 2007.
Where the chairperson of NABTA states that they welcome our existence and support our initiative and they claim that they offered us office space:
a) first and foremost, I would like to state that if such good cooperation were in existence, than I assure you the most basic conditions of employment would have been addressed especially the compulsory ones such as payslips and social security contributions, etc.
b) Secondly, if someone offers you something genuinely then it is only logical for that person to inform you. How can Mr Nangombe make such claim – we can assume nabta provided office space to perhaps another NTTU.
because no one in our committee knows about this purported office space.
As for Mr Peter Moyo in the same newspaper article, who claims to be a taxi driver and does not know about our existence, and assistance that could be accorded to him:
a) Some of these drivers have their own taxis as well, therefore we do not wish to collide with their right to be members of nabta. Being taxi owners they do qualify to be nabta members.
b) That may be why he never heard of us, as he keeps himself too busy with nabta activities and a lack of interest in a taxi union on his part. It has become ironic that he while we are at his doorstep does not know about us, but people as far as Oshakati, Swakopmund, Walvis bay, Otjiwarongo, Gobabis, etc. know about us.
c) Help that could be accorded to him would have to be surrounded by labour related issues such as unfair treatment in the work that he does and any unprocedural decisions taken with or without his consent.
Thank you for this opportunity to air myself through your newspaper.
W. Januarie (Mr)
NTTU. President
0813012457