Nafau leaders ban elections at congress

Incumbent leaders of the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (Nafau) have banned elections to challenge for the positions they occupy at a congress slated for next month.

The six national officer-bearers, the national executive (NEC) committee and the central executive committee (CEC) must be retained, the leaders decided, after they were elected at the last congress in 2016 for a four-year term that was to end in 2020.

In a top-down decision, Nafau branches countrywide were banned from making any nominations for NEC, CEC or national office-bearers.

“The NEC [meeting] held in January resolved that the current [national office-bears] are the only candidates for [those positions] at the upcoming congress,” a letter dated 11 August by Nafau general secretary Jacob Penda to the union regional coordinators and branches read.

He added: “Similarly, the CEC [meeting] held in February resolved to uphold the above resolution of NEC and further resolved that the current NEC and CEC members [will] be the candidates for the congress per region. Vacant positions should be filled through [fair] representation of the branches in the region".

The congress is slated for the first week of November.

Bad taste

The current national office-bearers – union president Michael Karupu, deputy president Abiud Tjipangandjara, general secretary Penda, deputy general secretary Wilhelm Absalom, national treasurer Beauty Wilhelm and deputy national treasurer Janet Kapere – have been in office since 2016.

Their four-year terms ended in 2020, but the incumbents allegedly used Covid-19 as the reason why they could not convene to elect new leaders. Now, three years after their terms were meant to end, the leaders have agreed among themselves that no aspiring union members may challenge for their positions.

The decision has left those aspiring for such offices with a bad taste in their mouths, saying banning contestation for such positions is draconian and self-serving, and violates the union’s constitution - which stipulates that all national positions should be attained via elections.

“To make matters worse, these decisions are taken by people whose mandate expired in 2020 and thus had no right to take resolutions of this nature.

“If your term has expired, who gave you the mandate to continue making decisions?” a union member remarked.

Members threaten to quit

Nafau represents workers at some of the country’s big companies such as Coca-Cola Namibia, Namibia Breweries, Hartlief, Windhoek Country Club and Resort and Pick n Pay, among others. It also boasts the country’s fishing industry as one of its strongholds.

According to its website, it has a membership population of over 23 700.

Namibian Sun understands some members have threatened to quit the union if elections are banned at the congress.

When contacted for comment, Karupu said: “I cannot talk about Nafau issues. You should speak to the general secretary”.

On his part, Penda said: “I cannot talk about this issue at the moment”.

Nafau was founded in 1986. Former minister and Robben Island political prisoner John Pandeni became its first secretary until 1992.