Trouble in fashion paradise

Renowned models including Veraakuani Hambira and Georgina Kandjeke took to social media to vent about their late payment and their dissatisfaction towards the first-ever Namibian Windhoek Fashion Week (WFW) organisers. “WFW was the biggest event and the first fashion week in Namibia, but they have failed to pay their models to date. People are clearly not respecting one another even with contracts involved,” read Kandjeke's tweet. Miss Namibia 2016 second princess Hambira stressed on how the event organisers were allegedly defensive when asked for payments, amongst other problems. “The organisers had to pay the show producers extra to move the runway setup underground. I understand that the organisers are going through the most trying time to pay everyone, even using their own money maara chale that's not our problem,” read the tweets. The models signed a contract that stated that they will earn N$250 for every runway slot taken part in. The contract however did not give a date of when the payments will be done but they were informed by Luis Munana, the event host, that according to international modelling standard, payments will be in after 90 days. “The 90-day cycle was completed this month and yet most of us are not paid. The best thing Luis could have done was not delete the Whatsapp groups because they were the medium of communication. I hope this gets solved because we need each other for this industry work” said model Jean-Claude Tjitamunisa. WFW event organisers Munana and Da Trinidade have taken full blame of the late payments and are doing their level best to pay off their debts accordingly. “I am a model myself, I know how they feel. I also have maintained a good reputation, why would I want to ruin it now? It's not like we refused. We have exhausted personal loans trying to pay of everyone. Every month and day we pay off someone or a company,” said Munana. Fashion Council Namibia vice chairperson and WFW organiser Kalistu Da Trinidade responded to one of the tweets from the models who posed a question to the Fashion Council of Namibia about their role. “The Fashion Council isn't there to fight for anybody. We are there to facilitate the fashion industry by coming up with programmes that will benefit the industry. If we had to fight for people we wouldn't fight for the models because we only have ten members on board and none of them are models. Luis Munana is and was never part of the Fashion Council of Namibia,” said Da Trinidade. Da Trinidade further said that the WFW and Fashion Council of Namibia are two different entities which should not be connected in any manner. Da Trinidade said they incurred an extra N$50 000 which wasn't in the budget by relocating the venue due to the weather. “We took it from the money budgeted for models. We are not saying our people are of less value - we are simply prioritising our future international relationships. We tend to allow petty issues to divide us. These are things instigated by loud mouths on social media who want to prove that they can tackle everyone and it's unfortunate. We should learn dialogue,” said Da Trinidade. The WFW organisers said they will not go over the 90-day standard with more than 30 days. The organisers also said the 2017 WFW will be bigger and better and everyone should look forward to it. June Shimuoshili

Trouble in fashion paradise

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-25

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Trouble in fashion paradise

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-25

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