By William Mbangula OSHAKATI Thirty-two employees of Fruit & Veg City at Oshakati were declared redundant following the closure of the business due to financial losses, the company revealed. Managing Director of Fruit & Veg City, Louis Peens, confirmed the closure of the business on Saturday, June 30. He denied allegations of mismanagement or any other form of irregularity, saying the closure was due to the fact that the business had not been doing well financially, unlike the other branches in Walvis Bay, Windhoek and Swakopmund. He could not confirm whether the business had closed for good or whether it was just a temporary arrangement. Previously located in one of the posh shopping centres in Oshakati, the Chinese owned Etango Complex, Fruit & Veg City was one of the most reliable sources of fresh vegetables and fruit since it started doing business last year. Many people, mostly its regular customers, were taken aback when they heard about the sudden closure. Peens told New Era that the company had already negotiated retrenchment packages of the workers with the relevant trade union Nafau (Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union). New Era could not get hold of a Nafau spokesperson at the time of writing this story. Said Peens: “We have closed merely for business reasons because we could not sustain ourselves in Oshakati. As far as I know, there are no irregularities involved in this matter.”