KEETMANSHOOP: The Councillor for Luderitz Constituency Jan Scholtz has expressed his disappointment against the situation at NovaNam Fishing Company where more than 280 employees were suspended.

He was speaking to Nampa in a telephonic interview on Tuesday.
Suspended employees are suspected of having stolen 474 bags of fish from the company, on 29 June and were thus suspended from 30 July until next Tuesday when they will go for disciplinary hearing.

A source from the company who prefer to remain anonymous confirmed to Nampa Tuesday that most of the fish were recovered inside the company premises and about 280 employees will face the disciplinary hearing.

“We do not know what is going to happen to them, whether they will lose their jobs or not. We are just waiting for the result,” said a source.
Scholtz charged that poor labour relations, thin salaries and empty promises to employees at NovaNam should come to an end.

‘Since I came in office 2010, I have received a lot of grievances from NovaNam employees ranging from lack of housing allowances, transport and the need for some to be permanently employed,’ says the councillor.

The politician indicates that he is not supporting the fact that people stole or encouraging them to steal, but he said once the company does not listen to employees grievances things will always go wrong.
He advised that it is high time that Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (NAFAU) and other unions representing employees in NovaNam start working hard to improve labour relations.

“I have discussed these problems brought to my office with the Ministry of Fisheries and the management of the company to try and work things out, but nothing was changed from the company side so far,” Scholtz said.

He says it will be a bad situation if such employees lost their jobs after the disciplinary hearing.
“If people are receiving low wages, complains about this and that but the management turns a blind eye we expect things such as theft to happen. Maybe the employees are hungry or they are tired of being ignored so they resort to wrong things,” Scholtz added.

Councillor says the company must listen and gets itself together so that they will not contribute to more unemployment in the country should they fire their employees.
“I acknowledge the fact that NovaNam provides jobs to a bigger population in Luderitz, but a lot of things need to be addressed in that company,” he said.

Efforts to get response from the company failed Monday and Tuesday as General Manager David Pokolo has been “on the phone” every time the reporter request to speak to him.
(edited)KEETMANSHOOP – Councillor for the Luderitz Constituency Jan Scholtz has expressed disappointment with the situation at the NovaNam Fishing Company, where more than 280 employees were suspended for alleged theft.

The employees are suspected to have stolen 474 bags of fish from the company on 29 June this year, and were suspended from 30 July until next Tuesday, when they will go for disciplinary hearings.
A source within the company who asked to remain anonymous told Nampa on Tuesday that most of the fish was recovered inside the company premises.

“We do not know what is going to happen to them, whether they will lose their jobs or not. We are just waiting for the result,” said the source. In a telephonic interview on Tuesday, Scholtz said alleged poor labour relations, low salaries and empty promises to employees at NovaNam should come to an end.
“Since I came into office 2010, I have received a lot of complaints from NovaNam employees, ranging from lack of housing allowances and transport to the need for some to be permanently employed,” said the councillor.

Scholtz indicated that he is not supporting or encouraging workers to steal, but said ‘once a company does not listen to employees’ grievances, things will always go wrong.’ “If people are receiving low wages and complain about it and management turns a blind eye, we expect things such as theft to happen. Maybe the employees are hungry or they are tired of being ignored, so they resort to doing things that are wrong,” he added.

Scholtz advised that it is high time that the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (NAFAU) and other unions representing employees in NovaNam start working hard to improve labour relations there.
“I have discussed these problems brought to my office with the Ministry of Fisheries and the management of the company to try and work things out, but nothing has changed from the company’s side so far,” Scholtz said.

The politician noted that it will be ‘bad’ if such employees lose their jobs after the disciplinary hearing.
The councillor said the company must listen and ‘get itself together’ so that it does not contribute to more unemployment in the country should it decide to fire the implicated employees.

“I acknowledge the fact that NovaNam provides jobs to a big population in Luderitz, but a lot of things need to be addressed in that company,” he said.

Efforts to get response from the company failed on Monday and Tuesday. Nampa made repeated attempts to speak to NovaNam general manager David Pokolo, but he was not available.