By Mbatjiua Ngavirue Tenacious Ingrid Haipinge has fought an almost six-year-long battle with Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR), but she now seems reasonably happy with the agreement reached with the company. Haipinge accepted a settlement with NWR on Monday when she brought things to a head by planting herself and the furniture she accuses NWR of damaging, outside the company’s headquarters in Independence Avenue. The embarrassment this caused the company in an image-conscious industry seemed to oil the wheels that led to the two parties reaching a speedy settlement. NWR employed Haipinge for 10 years before suspending her from work in August 2001 for allegedly fighting with another employee. At the time of her suspension she was based at the Gross Barmen Resort near Okahandja. Following a disciplinary hearing, the company terminated her employment later the same month, a decision upheld by a subsequent disciplinary hearing in February 2004. Then Managing Director of NWR Dr Victoria Nicodemus obtained a court sanctioned eviction order in June 2003 to have Haipinge and all her belongings removed from the house she occupied at Gross Barmen. Haipinge was however convinced the company dismissed her unfairly, and having fought for Namibia’s liberation for 16 years in exile, she was not about to take it lying down. The messenger of the court executed the eviction order in October the same year while she was away from Gross Barmen visiting Rundu. Only her son and his girlfriend were present when all her property including beds, mattresses, wardrobes, kitchen units, hi-fi, television set and cooking utensils were dumped 10 metres outside the entrance to the resort. The case generated so much publicity that then Minister of Environment and Tourism (MET) Phillemon Mwalima ordered a special investigation. The MET investigation found there was no satisfactory explanation why Haipinge became the first ever NWR employee to be evicted in that manner. The District Labour Court in Windhoek on October 2005 subsequently found that NWR followed incorrect and irregular procedures in dismissing Haipinge – in effect an unfair dismissal. The court ordered her reinstated to her old position; that NWR pay all due salaries and benefits from 2001 and pay all court expenses. The District Court further ordered that NWR pay for damages to her property and pay transportation costs for returning her belongings to Gross Barmen. She says N$8 000 in cash stashed away in one of the wardrobes intended for her daughter studying at Stellenbosch University, not surprisingly, disappeared when NWR rudely ejected her property from Gross Barmen. Interviewed yesterday, Haipinge said the agreement reached with NWR is that she together with NWR officials will go and ask for quotations for her goods that need replacement, including two cars damaged through the eviction. She said she probably sat with NWR representatives more than 10 times trying to resolve the dispute over her damaged belongings. The dramatic decision to dump the damaged property outside the NWR offices was because of the deterioration of her family’s living conditions. The 49-year-old mother has six young children and three grandchildren, plus the daughter at university to support. “We have been sleeping on the floor for three years, and even though I owned a TV the children now have no TV to watch,” she said with despair. What especially hurt Haipinge is that after fighting for the country’s freedom for 16 years in exile she never expected such things to happen in an independent Namibia. “They are violating the constitution, which says we are all equal before the law, but here you have a government-owned company violating people’s fundamental rights,” she complained. NWR Human Resources Manager Olavi Hamwele yesterday confirmed the agreement between Haipinge and the company. “We are happy an agreement was reached. We were always committed to settling this problem, but the process was hampered by a lack of communication between the employee and us,” Hamwele said. Haipinge was happy that for the first time ever, she was able to talk to a managing director of NWR when recently appointed MD Tobie Aupindi agreed to meet with her before jetting off to Germany. “I will congratulate him if there is a solution, because he has shown there is a better way to lead the country; through sitting down and talking to each other,” she added.