Rössing Uranium hosted its annual long service awards ceremony on Thursday, 20 October 2022, to celebrate its 45, 40, 35 and 30 years of long-serving employees.
Eleven employees, who have a combined 415 years of continuous service for Rössing Uranium, were recognised at the glamorous event that took place at the Swakopmund Seaside Hotel.
Speaking at the event, managing director Johan Coetzee said: “At Rössing, our employees are pivotal to our business. As such, the long service awards are a clear testimony of the success of our human resources work, specifically employee retention. The fact that some of you have been here for such a long time is truly remarkable. Without your guidance, mentorship and knowledge share, Rössing would not have been able to continue boasting a skilled, motivated and capable workforce – being the aspiring Employer of Choice”.
According to Coetzee, it is the long-serving employees that the less-experienced employees look up to for answers when they have questions about how to be successful at Rössing.
“It is from you that we all learn about what has and what hasn’t worked at the mine before and why. It is through you that we have a stable platform to build a better Rössing for those who come after you. I urge you to continue to serve as ambassadors to our external stakeholders and as an example to all other employees at the mine”.
Also speaking at the ceremony, 45-years serving employee Solly Thomas shared his journey that started in 1977.
Viktor Gonteb also took to the podium to share his 30-year journey at Rössing, where he started as an operator to today being an electrical foreman.
“When the opportunity to go for training came up, I took it. I joined NIMT in my late 20s – and later, I furthered my studies and today, I’m a foreman.”
Delivering the vote of thanks was Rössing Uranium’s general manager: operations Martin Tjipita, who acknowledged the partners and families, whom he believes are key contributors to the tremendous success of the long-serving employees at work and at home.
Tjipita concluded by encouraging younger employees to tap into the knowledge of the long-serving employees because, according to him, “There is no book in the library where you can get that valuable knowledge from”.