Despite numerous efforts to safeguard the wellbeing of its employees and its business in the face of banned international travel and restricted national movement, Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) has had to look at other additional measures to sustain its business. 

With the mounting challenges the tourism industry continues to endure, NWR, in line with the Labour Act, will be reducing the remuneration and working hours for its employees from job grades A1 – F1 for operational reasons and, for a period not exceeding three months, starting in August 2021. In the case of NWR, only the basic salary will be affected as per the table.

The State-owned tourism entity has experienced a daunting task during the last 16 months. 

Each company within the tourism sector took various measures to safeguard its operations and its employees’ livelihoods. 

Being a State-owned enterprise NWR equally embarked on uncharted waters when it cut its board, managing director and senior management basic salaries, with the Patterson E-grading by 25% in September 2020. At the same time, NWR and NAPWU agreed on suspending salary increments for 2019/20, suspending normal overtime, Sunday and public holiday payments – and other allowances and benefits from 27 March 2020 up-to-date.

“This decision was not an easy one to make, since we had hoped that our previous measures and a possible uptick in travel during our high season would improve the situation. However, in the current circumstances, where cases are rapidly increasing and affecting Namibia as a travel destination, we do not foresee a marked improvement anytime soon. Therefore, the reduction in hours and basic salary is geared towards giving us some leeway to continue operating under these challenging times,” said Matthias Ngwangwama, NWR managing director. 

At the same time, NWR is continuing to engage the Ministry of Public Enterprise and its key stakeholders to see how they can assist it during this period.