No salaries for NIMT staff

Otis Finck
Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) employees were informed on Monday that they would not receive their February salaries.

NIMT executive director Eckhart Mueller said in an internal memo, signed by him and NIMT financial manager Mark Templin, that the institution did not have the money to pay the salaries that were due yesterday.

Mueller, who could not be reached for further comment, advised the employees that they should make arrangements with their banks to ensure that deductions were not returned as unpaid.

He promised that the NIMT management was doing everything in its power to pay the salaries as soon as possible.

An NIMT Arandis staff member explained that the institution does not receive a fixed budget allocation from the government, unlike the University of Namibia (Unam) and Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust).

“Government subsidises over 95% of NIMT trainees via the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) and the Namibia Training Authority (NTA).

“The remaining 5% are private candidates supported by their parents and businesses. The NIMT is thus totally dependent on government funding per trainee.”

He added that there had been delays in treasury funds being released to the higher education ministry, which in turn has to channel the funds to NSFAF and the NTA.

“NIMT therefore suggested and implemented retrenchments in 2018 as a cost-cutting measure. Minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi, however, ordered the reinstatement of the retrenched employees and deputy executive director Raimo Naanda gave a guarantee that the funds would be provided on time.

“We were paid late in January and received only 75% of our salaries during the first week of February. A week later we received the remainder (25%).”

The staff member said the late payment of salaries had a snowball effect and affected the creditworthiness of employees.

“We constantly have to approach the bank for extensions due to the irregular salary payments we receive. Our creditworthiness is already down the drain.”

The staff member said classes were continuing despite a delay in the supply of materials caused by a shortage of funds.

NIMT was established at Arandis in 1991 and also has campuses at Keetmanshoop and Tsumeb.

The institution has approximately 3 800 students and 270 staff members.

It offers full-time apprenticeship/vocational skills upgrading and special/artisan assistant training. Courses focus on mining, manufacturing and engineering.

NIMT produces about 250 graduates per year. Most of them are employed by the mining sector.

OTIS FINCK

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-29

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European Championships Qualifying: Millwall FC 1 vs 1 West Bromwich Albion | Bristol City 1 vs 0 Leicester City English Championship: Millwall FC 1 vs 1 West Bromwich Albion | Bristol City 1 vs 0 Leicester City Katima Mulilo: 19° | 36° Rundu: 19° | 29° Eenhana: 19° | 29° Oshakati: 21° | 30° Ruacana: 20° | 33° Tsumeb: 19° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 29° Omaruru: 19° | 32° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Gobabis: 17° | 30° Henties Bay: 16° | 20° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 11:22, High tide: 05:24, Low Tide: 23:26, High tide: 17:46 Swakopmund: 16° | 17° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:22, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:44 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 27km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:21, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:43 Rehoboth: 19° | 30° Mariental: 23° | 34° Keetmanshoop: 24° | 35° Aranos: 22° | 33° Lüderitz: 15° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 35° Oranjemund: 14° | 25° Luanda: 27° | 28° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 26° Mbabane: 16° | 21° Maseru: 11° | 29° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 27° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Cape Town: 17° | 28° Durban: 20° | 24° Johannesburg: 16° | 24° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 20° | 30° Harare: 16° | 29° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.82 | EUR to NAD 20.37 | CNY to NAD 2.62 | USD to NAD 18.89 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.77 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.39 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1303.34 | USD to ZAR 18.89 | USD to ZMW 25.01 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 74536 Up +0.85% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1528.69 Up +0.84% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12986.94 Up +0.04% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 27559.35 Down -2.36% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - 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