Job scheme for fishermen ‘hijacked’, Walu director claims

Walu Fishing managing director Erna Loch has accused the Namibian government of favouring a small group of companies and individuals under its employment redress programme, while hundreds of former fishermen who were meant to benefit from the scheme remain unemployed.

In a video posted on social media last week, Loch described the programme as “a failed promise hijacked by greed and manipulation”.

She said it had not been implemented in the spirit in which it was conceived.

Loch said the programme, intended to create permanent employment for Okapare fishermen who lost their jobs in 2015, had not achieved that.

"The very people it was designed to help are sitting at home for five years now, doing nothing while being paid through quota allocation,” Loch said.

She added that only about 5% of the fishermen are currently working at sea and that there are no vessels because the quotas are too small.

"We can’t bring in vessels when there are not enough quotas to sustain operations. Yet we’re still expected to pay salaries,” she stressed.

According to her, only a handful benefit from the scheme, while the rest are fighting to survive.

Loch argued that the quota volumes allocated under the programme are insufficient to sustain meaningful employment or attract investment into fishing operations.

“You cannot bring a vessel from another country to fish for only three months – that is not how business works. Investors need guarantees, but this programme offers none,” she highlighted.

Financial strain

Loch said companies participating in the programme are constrained from scaling up operations, even when they have the capacity to do so.

“We have the capacity to bring in vessels, but we are not allowed to," she noted.

She added that at a meeting held last year in Walvis Bay, "we were clearly told you cannot bring in vessels because we cannot guarantee you quotas. So why was this programme created? Why go through all the effort if only a few people are meant to benefit? Ordinary Namibians cannot buy quotas at auction, we do not have the money. Foreigners can. And yet, these are our national resources. They are supposed to benefit Namibians."

Loch said the situation has left many companies financially strained and unable to meet basic obligations to workers.

“We cannot even pay salaries because the quotas are too small. What is going on here? Who are we fooling? We are deceiving our own people, the fishermen who were promised jobs that never came.

"For five years they’ve waited. Their health has deteriorated. Many are now over 50 or 60 years old, unfit to work at sea. Some have been unemployed for nearly a decade. That’s the grim reality of the government redress programme today,” she said.

Ministry responds

Following Loch’s remarks, the agriculture and fisheries ministry issued a statement last week saying the programme was introduced following a Cabinet directive to secure “full-time, permanent employment for the affected group of people in the fishing sector”.

The statement said government, through the justice and labour relations ministry, agreed with selected companies to carry out the programme’s objectives.

“These companies are designated in line with Section 3 (3) of the Marine Resources Act of 2000, which entitles the State to utilise or harvest marine resources to advance socio-economic and other governmental objectives in the public interest, through an entity or person designated by the Minister, on direction from Cabinet,” the ministry said.

It added that an advertisement was placed in local newspapers inviting eligible companies to apply and that an evaluation committee, composed of technical staff from both ministries, assessed the applications.

Companies that failed to meet their obligations under the designation agreements had their agreements cancelled, and new applicants were invited through the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations.

"If a company is not in agreement with what is contained in the designation agreement, they have the right not to sign. Once signed, the company is bound by the terms, including the number of employees, the quota to be allocated, and the period for employment,” the ministry noted.

The ministry clarified further that the programme was not designed as a funding mechanism or an investment collateral model but purely to ensure that the affected fishermen were gainfully employed.

“When designated entities fail to honour their obligations, such as paying employees’ salaries, the law provides for measures including cancellation of the agreement or recovery of the equivalent value of the quota allocated,” the ministry said.

Probe

Labour minister Wise Immanuel wrote to fisheries minister Inge Zaamwani on 15 September, requesting an investigation into claims that some quota-holding companies were reporting to government that recruited fishermen were working, while in reality they remained stationed at Kuisebmund Stadium in Walvis Bay in protest over employment conditions.

Immanuel warned that paying salaries without services being rendered could amount to fraud or corruption, allegations that are now under review by the Auditor-General.

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