Staff Reporter

More than 380 Namibian employers provided notice to the labour commissioner to retrench 3244 employees from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021. 

Of the total number of intended dismissals recorded, 873 employees were recorded during the fourth quarter of 2020/21 financial year. 

Meanwhile, just over 570 employees were recorded during the first quarter while 881 employees were recorded during the second quarter of 2021/22 FY. During the third quarter of 2021/22 FY, the labour commissioner received notices to retrench 919 employees.

According to the acting executive director in the labour ministry, Lydia Indombo, reasons for the retrenchments were mainly due to economic factors, transfer of businesses as well as re-organisational or operational reasons during the four quarters.

“The above-mentioned numbers are not an actual figure of retrenchment but simply notices of intention. The Labour Act does not make provision for employers to notify the labour commissioner on the actual retrenchment statistics within their establishments but rather to serve the labour commissioner with a notice of intention to retrench their employees,” Indombo explained. 

Indombo added that of the total notices for retrenchments recorded, 67 employees were recorded during the fourth quarter of 2021/2022 financial year (January to March 2021) due to Covid-19 related reasons. However, she stated that no record for intended dismissal due to Covid-19 related reasons was served to the labour commissioner during the first three quarters of the 2021/22 financial year. 

A breakdown by the labour ministry shows the majority of retrenchment notices were from unspecified industries (1048) while the wholesale and retail sector recorded 548 notices. This was followed by mining (511), travel, tourism, hospitality and catering (347), construction (232) and manufacturing (228). Notable retrenchment notices were also received from agriculture (119), transport (88) and security (87).