Rudolf Gaiseb
The Popular Democratic Movement’s (PDM) financial department allegedly scrapped its media team from the payroll in December, and withheld their salaries.
The party is said to have hired the crew via verbal agreements.
One of the aggrieved members of the media team is Desere !Ganes.
She told New Era on Friday that their remuneration for December 2024 remains unpaid. She said they did not receive any communication prior to payday.
They found out they were removed from the payroll only when they followed up with the party’s accountant on 27 December.
“I called the secretary general [Manuel Ngaringombe], and told him ‘you cannot take us off the payroll without letting us know’.
Nobody said we were going to work until November. The only thing we know is we’re supposed to work until March when new people get recruited,” !Ganes said.
The crew was reportedly hired after a meeting with the party president, McHenry Venaani, and Ngaringombe in May 2024.
Their first remuneration started in June.
“We were supposed to receive contracts, but never received them,” another crew member revealed. The media team then received a letter after two months, confirming their contractual engagement with PDM.
The letter by Ngaringombe, dated 15 July 2024, which addresses all party staff members, stipulates that all current contracts are set to conclude on 28 February 2025.
“The outcome of the elections will influence the structure and staffing needs of the PDM. New contracts may only be drawn up and offered after the election results are finalised and assessed.
“This assessment will determine whether the party will be in a position to renew contracts or not. Until the end of your current contracts, your dedication and hard work remain vital to the success of the PDM during this critical period,” the letter reads.
Responding to the allegations, Venaani said the crew was hired only for the elections period. “If anybody from the media team has not been paid, [then] they were part of the election team. It was a media election team. The election team was paid until the end of elections in November. They can’t be demanding a salary in December if the elections are over,” he said.
He added “during elections, we load a lot of election staff, people who are helping during the elections. But when the elections are gone, you pay them until the day of the elections. I would have sympathised with them if they said they were not paid during November. But December, they know that they are not part of the payment”.
Countering Venaani’s argument, the distraught !Ganes said “we never received communication that we will be working only for the election period. All they said was that they wanted a media team for the party”.
Despite efforts to get comments from Smit and Ngaringombe, who are responsible for the financial department, they were unreachable on their mobile phone numbers.
Storm
Late last year, a perfect storm was brewing within the PDM.
This was after the party found itself between a rock and a hard place, a situation that allegedly forced the official opposition in the National Assembly (NA) to vacate its rented offices in Windhoek West. The party, New Era understands, is no longer able to pay the monthly N$40 000 bill after losing 11 NA seats. The PDM became the official opposition party in Parliament in 2019 after obtaining 16 seats. The party’s representation has now been reduced to only five seats.
Some party members have attributed the downfall of the party to the mismanagement of funds. It is alleged that the party has run out of funds after outsourcing campaign materials and vehicle fleets. It has furthermore been alleged that party agents and election observers are yet to be paid.
During an interview at the tail-end of 2024, Venaani denied the allegations.
He, however, confirmed PDM’s financial problems. “The party is undergoing a serious financial problem, but financial problems are not new to us. We are working around the clock to mitigate the crisis. But the crisis was not caused by me ordering materials,” he said at the time.
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