Windhoek
Katutura Youth Enterprise Centre (Kayec) employees, mainly instructors and cleaners, who have asked top management to renegotiate their wage rates, face the possibility of disciplinary sanction, documents seen by New Era reveal.
The alleged punitive intimidation comes shortly after workers at Kayec hinted they would down tools this month if management fails to urgently address their grievances over low salaries and the lack of teaching material.
It is understood that once bosses at Kayec got wind of the fact that aggrieved workers spoke to the media about their grievances, they accused staff of bringing the name of the non-profit organisation into disrepute.
A circular addressed to all staff on Monday by the human resources manager Johan Visagie reads: “This is indeed a serious breach in confidentiality of privileged information, which constitutes grounds for disciplinary action. If anyone is found guilty of this misconduct, Kayec human resources department will have no choice but to take the necessary disciplinary action against any contraveners.”
Documents seen by New Era show gross salary schedules for Kayec staff members which indicate that the government-funded institution’s top management are smiling all the way to the bank, while low-level staff are rewarded meagerly for their efforts to uplift young Namibians, particularly young people who failed to make it through formal education and were left wandering the streets, adding to the already high unemployment numbers.
The internal documents show that a Kayec director earns N$72 139 a month, his deputy director nets N$34 859 per month, the human resource manager gets N$33 699 a month, while a monitoring and evaluation officer pockets N$22 632. A communication officer earns N$21 674 per month.
The instructors and trainers are aggrieved and feel they do a lot of work and take home only N$6 322, slightly more than the cleaners, who earn N$5 528 per month.
Visagie said the Namibia National Teachers Union (Nantu) wrote to all Kayec members a week ago requesting staff to remain calm and to be patient. Further, he said, Nantu indicated to them that it wants to consult its members on the way forward and Kayec is waiting for feedback.
Visagie accused staff of giving “private” and “confidential information” about Kayec’s salary schedule to members of the media.
“Kayec employment contracts and addendums signed by all staff clearly state that any disclosures of confidential information (including personal information kept on the computer or other media) made unlawfully outside the proper course of duty will be treated as a serious disciplinary offence,” he threatened.
The aggrieved workers feel Kayec has an unfair salary structure, because only the top individuals are benefiting from the taxpayer funds.
“We, as instructors, are doing so much work. How can a trainer get almost the same salary as a cleaner? We reached a deadlock. We approached the Labour Court and were given the go-ahead to strike, as these issues are long in coming and legitimate,” said an instructor, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
Even though they threatened to strike this month the workers have not given a definite date, saying they have to sort out a few issues, such as the position of those staff who are still on contract.
“Currently the institution is fully funded by the NTA (Namibia Training Authority), but this fund from NTA is only benefiting top management, while the other staff members are starving. There is no salary scale at Kayec. No financial reports are ever produced, there is no transparency and there is no equal treatment when it comes to salaries, because some trainers are getting salaries equal to the Kayec cleaners,” instructors grumbled.
They also accused Kayec director Nelson Prada of practicing favouritism when it comes to remuneration packages. “He only favours top management, because they are working in cahoots when it comes to salaries. We also don’t have uniforms, which we were supposed to be given by February already.
“The students still do not have textbooks. He tells us there is no money, but he recently appointed a consultant for finance. We can’t properly teach, because we’re understaffed while they enroll so many students. We can’t cope under these working conditions,” one instructor complained.
Contacted for comment, Kayec director Nelson Prada denied allegations of favouritism, but admitted that the issue of salaries is a problem. Prada said Kayec is currently engaged in salary negotiations with Nantu.
Kayec is a non-profit organisation founded in 1995 with the aim of building the skills base of the youth and empowering Namibian children to be their best, regardless of circumstances.