2015-05-22Staff Report 2 Lüderitz !Nami#nus Constituency Councillor Jan Scholtz has learnt with shock that the 297 Novanam factory workers suspended in July 2012 due to theft have officially been dismissed. On May 15 they received a letter from the Supreme Court saying the Judge President Peter Shivute on April 28 dismissed the petition for leave to appeal, thus upholding the dismissal of the 297 workers. In a media release Scholtz expressed shock that the Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of the workers suspended for massive theft of fish – three years after the incident. He stresses this is a very sad development because the majority of those dismissed are women and the fear is for the children in school who are being punished because of this action. Scholtz says he is also aware that some of them even got houses through bank loans and there is a high possibility they will lose their houses. Many attempts were made to have NovaNam relook the issue and establish the masterminds of the theft in order for the process to be fair. “We never got feedback from the management of Novanam on this,” said Scholtz Scholtz also wrote to the Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation, Erkki Ngimtina, to intervene. The dismissal only serves to worsen the high poverty levels and contributes to high unemployment, states Scholtz, who further appealed to companies to desist from contributing to high unemployment. Scholtz says he will ask the labour ministry why many workers are employed as temporary workers for long periods. “This kind of work culture needs to stop so that people can have job security and peace of mind. “It is this kind of action that keeps on short-circuiting the fight against poverty,” said the councillor. 2015-05-22Staff Report 2
