By Staff Reporter WINDHOEK The ‘knives’ are still out for Women’s Action for Development (WAD) and its beleaguered executive director, Veronica de Klerk, with the Swapo Party Women’s Council (SPWC) being the latest organization to join the fray. In a statement yesterday, SPWC secretary, Petrina Haingura, demanded that WAD and its executive director apologize to the aggrieved employees of WAD, the NUNW and the entire Namibian nation. The SPWC statement follows similar pronouncements from the NUNW and the Swapo Party Youth League condemning WAD and De Klerk for her handling of labour matters at WAD. “We further demand that Mrs De Klerk must apologize for the insults she showered on our people when she called those children born out of wedlock half-orphans,” the SPWC said. The controversy first arose when employees of WAD complained to the NUNW about alleged maltreatment at the hands of De Klerk. De Klerk allegedly told female employee, Mrs Handura, who had a sick child at home, that she was required to report for work “even if her child was dead or sick”. The SPWC rejected what it described as the insincerity and insensitivity of WAD and its executive director, reminding them that true champions of women’s rights are true and loyal to human life. “As women – as well as mothers – we believe that the best interests of the child must never be compromised, a sentiment that neither Mrs De Klerk nor WAD seem (to) appreciate,” the Women’s Council said. Another complaint was about the rather quaint and somewhat antiquated WAD policy whereby pregnant married women were entitled to a bonus denied to unmarried women. “The SPWC is especially dismayed at the fact that such a policy comes from an organization which proclaims to all and sundry that it advances the interests and rights of the most vulnerable members of our society. This is despicable, and smacks of hypocrisy!” it said. The Swapo women reminded De Klerk that the fight against HIV/AIDS was not to be taken lightly. “… and to outrageously ask your employee as to how she could get infected upon her disclosing her HIV status to you, is indeed cold and inhumane of you,” they said. They also criticized what they described as the deafening silence of the WAD board in the face of such “blatant abuse of women workers’ rights”, adding that it was absurd for the WAD board to support De Klerk, and whatever actions she wanted to take against the NUNW and its Secretary-General Evilastus Karonda, at the expense of legitimate concerns voiced by the workers’ movement. “This in our view is a sign that Mrs De Klerk is not fit for office as she can clearly not distinguish between her own personal value system and that of the organization,” they stated angrily.