SME Bank employees demand pay

Former employees of the SME Bank yesterday staged a protest in front of the offices of the ministry of finance, where they claimed that they had not been paid their severance packages as promised following the closure of the bank in June 2017.Following an urgent application by the Bank of Namibia, the SME Bank was provisionally liquidated and shut down by High Court Judge Hannelie Prinsloo.In a petition to the deputy minister of finance, Natangue Ithete, the former employees claim that most of them have not received their severance pay. Reading the petition, former SME Bank worker Justine Gebhardt expressed disappointment that obligations to 208 former employees were not being honoured.“Given the insolvent situation of the bank, the liquidators were only in a position to offer one week's pay for each year of service,” Gebhardt said.This, in her opinion, was a pittance. Other employees were still to be paid severance packages, she claimed.“The majority of employees received between three and two weeks' pay. Some employees were recruited early in that year [2017] and have not clocked a year's service as at the date of retrenchment. Such employees received nothing in severance pay,” Gebhardt claimed.“As can be expected, we are having financial commitments and this situation is depressing. The current situation of the bank was not of our doing; we played no part in the demise of the bank; we are innocent,” Gebhardt said.Further adding to the former employees' woes is the fact that some of them had resigned with 24 hours' notice from their previous jobs to help strengthen the SME Bank's application for a banking licence.“We were requested to resign within 24 hours to assist the SME Bank in obtaining its licence. Having resigned under those circumstances makes it difficult for those institutions to take us back,” Gebhardt said.In their petition, they demand nine months' salary and also asked for their SME Bank loans to be written off.SME Bank spokesperson Liina Iyambo would not respond to queries at the time of going to press. In a notice to retrenched employees, liquidators McLaren and Bruni wrote: “The consequence of this provisional liquidation order is that the services of all staff are terminated.“Your claim against the bank, which has absolute preference above any other claims, will accordingly be as follows: one month full salary as notice pay, leave pay according to the leave records of the bank [and] severance allowance calculated as to one week for each completed year of service, and arrear wages and salaries,” said the notice.The Bank of Namibia placed the SME Bank under curatorship in March 2017 when it was discovered that close to N$200 million had been invested in questionable investments in neighbouring South Africa.OGONE TLHAGE

SME Bank employees demand pay

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-30

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SME Bank employees demand pay

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-30

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