RUNDU – Labour minister Utoni Nujoma has condemned in the strongest terms the abuse of power which emerged at TotalEnergies Petroport Kavango service station where employees are allegedly whipped when seeking loans from their employer. 

Videos of the workers receiving lashes from a man believed to be the owner have been circulating on social media.

“Just this morning, we were greeted with news in the local media reporting a Rundu employer beating employees for loans. This employer is allegedly beating employees on the buttocks whenever they wanted to borrow money. The ministry condemns such actions by employers in the strongest terms,’’ he said. 

Nujoma indicated that the nation is aware that in 2020, Namibia ratified the ILO Convention 190, which deals with violence and harassment in the world of work.

“This convention accords the right to everyone to be free from violence and harassment and includes the right to be free from bullying, undue stress, discrimination, sexual harassment. In this regard, I call on our labour inspectorate structures to immediately dispatch an inspection team to get to the bottom of these allegations and take appropriate action,’’ he said. 

Nujoma also called upon the management of his ministry to accelerate all steps necessary for the full domestication and implementation of Convention 190 in Namibia, saying one of the principal objects of Namibia’s struggle for independence, which was led by workers, was to end the abuse and exploitation of Namibian workers. 

“Therefore, the Namibian Constitution contains strong provisions that recognise the dignity of workers and that aim to ensure social justice. This unstable situation in the labour market is further exacerbated by the recent trend of unregistered individuals taking the law into their hands and instigating unprotected labour action in the name of activism,’’ he noted. 

The minister said in recent months, several officials of opposition political parties have organised actions to protest ill treatment of workers at different establishments and have threatened to shut down companies, burn premises etc. 

“I think we must ask ourselves what are the motives of the opposition politicians who advise workers to ignore their protections and remedies afforded by law and bypass their trade unions? As a ministry, we work within a legal framework, principally the Labour Act of 2007, and are committed to fulfilling our mandate in a manner that respects the rule of law,” he said.

Meanwhile at Rundu, the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) members were on site to engage workers and their boss. 

“We have come here as early as 06h00 and when we got here to ask Mike du Preez for him to cease service, cars could not fill up here for about two hours while we were trying to understand what exactly is going on,’’ said SPYL spokesperson Moses Shikerete.

Shikerete said the videos of Du Preez whipping his employees sent the nation into serious discussions, but the staff at the service station informed him that it was some sort of game.

“We were very clear with the employees that if there’s something that they are hiding, it will definitely come to light. But through our engagement we have learned that the employees perhaps are trying to hide the truth but we told them that right now, what the nation want to hear is a serious apology because this is something that used to happen before independence, we cannot allow it to happen in an independent Namibia,’’ he noted.

“One of my ex-managers started it. When people wanted something, he would hit them on the butt with the hands then it was with a stick and they said he was hitting too hard and then I started. We play with each other. They hit me, I hit them but I don’t understand why that now he is gone and no longer working here he put the videos on social media, why didn’t he do it when he was here?’’ asked Du Preez who was on Thursday at 07h16 recorded partaking in the alleged game.

“I’m feeling ashamed. My heart is not OK but in time I will show my side of the story. My apology to the nation. I’m not racist. Sometimes man do stupid mistakes but I have learned from my mistakes,’’ Du Preez said.

The Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union (Manwu) in Rundu said they visited the service station last week to interrogate the situation. 

“We called the employees who were involved, including the manager and to our surprise, they are all saying it’s a game between themselves but nevertheless, we don’t recommend such games to be played at the work place but our mandate has been limited because they are saying it was a game,’’ said union representative Richard Matengu.

Some workers who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity said the men being whipped in the videos were not being honest, they said it’s a culture at their work place that if an employee wants a loan from the employer, they need to be whipped. 

“But women are not part of the activity if she wants a loan she must pick a victim who should be whipped on her behalf and then she must compensate him from the loan. We have no freedom to talk here even the owner’s sister and other family members who work here treat us how they want. They tell us that we can go to the union or anywhere they don’t care,’’ said one employee who said some of their colleagues were sent packing for simple things or things that happened in their absence.