Fishing industry workers demand higher quotas

More than 400 employees from Gendev Fishing Group and Princess Brand Processors demanded that the fisheries and marine resources ministry provide fishing quotas to the companies they work for during a peaceful demonstration staged in Walvis Bay last week.

The workers marched and handed over petitions to the fisheries, labour and industrial relations ministries.

The shop steward for Princess Brand Processors employees, Silas Petrus, wanted clarity from the ministry of fisheries on the criteria used when allocating quotas.

"Princess Brand Processors is a Namibian-owned organisation with two vessels and a factory which can accommodate up to 2 500 employees. This organisation has been buying quotas to sustain its employees while seeking an audience with the minister to discuss the allocation of a quota to them. The ministry went silent. Why don't you want to allocate quotas to this company?"

Benefit too

The workers also want to know what changes were brought to the fishing industry based on the Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) and have called on the fisheries minister to allocate quotas to the company or allow fishing within the 200-metre contour line.

"We request that the minister put politics aside when labour-related matters arise. We want to benefit from these resources as much as other Namibians do. How long should we suffer like this? How will we feed our families, pay rent, and survive if there's nothing or no hope to continue working in this corrupted industry? We are suffering and dwelling around like refugees in our own country.

Ruben Mundilo, a marine engineer at the fisheries ministry, acknowledged and received the petition.

Fewer opportunities

The chairman of the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations (CNFA) Matti Amukwa, acknowledged the concerns of the workers and told them that they came to deliver their petition at the wrong address.

"Gendev Fishing Group and Princess Brand Processors are not affiliated with CNFA. Even if I accept your petition, there is really nothing much I can do with it because the companies that you represent are not members of the confederation, and the confederation cannot attend to unknown members,"

Shop steward Aina Nampweya emphasised that more challenges and fewer opportunities remain in the fishing industry.

"The Namibian employees employed at Princess Brand Processors and others are the most affected as they cannot provide food for their families. We want the minister to come to the negotiating table and reach an amicable solution with our employer. How accurate are the scientists about not allowing fishing in the 200-metre contour line zone while some vessels are disregarding this restriction."

Survival

Shop steward Hofni Jonas said that workers are demanding that the minister of labour intervene because unemployment is increasing rapidly.

"We want to work so that we are able to take care of ourselves and our loved ones. How will the minister of labour feel if these 1 300 employees are laid off? We also want benefits, including a basic salary, housing, medical aid, and a pension. We respect the authorities that govern this country's resources, but we lost hope in them. "Companies are pleading with the minister of fisheries to permit them to catch within the 200-metre contour line zone in order to provide employment."

Magano Nakapala, the head of administration at the Walvis Bay labour ministry's office, received the petition and promised to channel it to the relevant authorities.