Weakened and heavily compromised

In the first volume of Mein Kampf, published in 1925, Adolf Hitler wrote that trade unions are critical for the success of any political movement, and continued by saying that in an ideal system, trade unions would not be necessary. Throughout history and across the world, the trade unions have formed alliances with political movements in a bid to meet their objectives of upholding the rights of workers. The situation is no different in Namibia today, and as the country prepares to celebrate May Day on Monday it appears as though the political infiltration of the trade unions in the country is complete.Over the years political movements have became governments and this begs the question of the purpose of trade unions in Namibia, and arguably across the continent and the world and whether the traditional “us versus them” paradigm has shifted.There are no doubts that in Africa, with its history of extreme oppression by external and colonial forces, trade unions were the first and foremost mobilisers of the workers and the first to agitate for change and effectively challenge the status quo. It is for this reason that it became an almost natural course of action for the trade unions to align themselves with political liberation movements. Most of the trade unions in Africa were based on communist and socialist ideals and they were powerful in that they had a strong base to operate from. The alliance between the politics of change and the rights of workers came almost naturally as a strong symbiotic relationship existed where the numbers of the masses and ideology led the fight for equal rights.But Africa is “free” today and the governments are mostly capitalist and consequently, the trade unions find themselves in a somewhat difficult position to find new and innovative ways of rising to the occasion and upholding workers’ rights.In Namibia, it appears as though the unions only come to the fore when there are wage negotiations in a particular industry and this also only on occasion. For the remainder, they are quiet.“When the time comes, the union will ask for 12%. The employer will offer 5%. Press releases abound and strikes are threatened. They eventually, after a long bargaining process, settle of 6 or 7% and then, they disappear, until next year,” said an expert on labour affairs. WeakenedHubert René Schillinger, a former resident representative at the Frederich Ebert Stiftung in Windhoek, wrote that “trade unions in Africa are weak organisations with many internal problems. Trapped between an ongoing ‘informalisation’ of the African economies on one hand and the consequences of ‘neo-liberal globalisation’ on the other, they are quite often seen to be a relic of the past.”In current times, communism and socialism are all but dead ideals and many trade unions appear to have abandoned the fight for the rights of workers in favour of the political gravy train.This is also true in Namibia.In our case, the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) is still affiliated to the Swapo party, and is not even ashamed to be in bed with the ruling party.According to Barnabas Tjizu, former secretary-general of the Metal and Allied Workers Union (MANWU), upon independence and after 1990, the political infiltration of the unions began and has continued unabated. The lines between trade unionism and party politics became blurred as the politicians endeavoured to control the powerful workers’ unions. This led to a high level of competition in the top echelons of union leadership structures for positions within government structures.“Unions now have a grey area. The ‘us and them’ has all but disappeared having bled into one another and you will find many ‘trade unionists’ with party membership cards. Our leaders carry the tag of ‘hero of the struggle’ and our unionists see them so. But if I am suffering, who cares about heroes? I come back from star rallies in the same state that I went there. The workers have not taken government to task. In terms of Swapo’s manifesto, government is not delivering and to make matters worse, we have not gone further to say, ‘what do we do if they do not deliver?’.”He continues saying, “It is a pity that those in thick of things have a one-dimensional look at employment, living standards and so on. Workers and leaders are vying for top positions. Workers will, however, come to a stage where they say, ‘we have had enough’ and that cannot be that far.”The ideals of combining a strong political ideology with workers’ movements in pre-independence Africa were noble. In 1999, Rotimi Ajayi in the UCLA Journal of African Studies wrote that in Nigeria in the late 1940s, the view was that “working class solidarity and the economic freedom of workers depended not on the parleys with employers, not on negotiating machinery for the settlement of disputes, but on the overthrow of imperialism.”Ripple effectThis approach no longer works. Namibia is feeling the effects of a global slowdown in the economy and furthermore, the ripples from the tragically comical and diseased Jacob Zuma government in South Africa continue to spill over our borders. Corruption remains omnipresent and unemployment levels are high, at around 27%. Of this, the youth make up at least half of this figure at 49% of the youth aged 20 to 24 being unemployed.And all the while, workers continue to complain that they have no rights. Some say that the union bosses that are so aligned to Swapo and they will not take any action that could possibly harm the government. Others say cronyism at their workplaces is complete.One worker told Namibian Sun that at his place of employment, they can forget about bargaining. “My boss is more of a comrade with the ruling party than [with] my union. We are powerless here,” he said.“May Day was about workers addressing workers’ issues. Today, the keynote address comes from the government and they are not addressing the issues that affect me,” says Tjizu.Employers agree. Some say the political alliance of trade unions is unhealthy. Said one: “The political clout that they can wield, unbalances the rights of the worker against the employer.”Another added that the political bias in favour of the worker comes out time and time again. “We cannot get an audience with the head of state, but the president meets with the illegally striking fishermen!”Wage issuesTim Parkhouse, the secretary-general of the Namibia Employers Federation says that unfair wage increases are the most common complaint from his members.“One of the most frequent complaints I receive is that of unreasonable wage increase requests. We all know where inflation lies, but too often wage demands are way above that. This results in [many] unproductive hours of negotiation. Very infrequently are wage demands related to productivity. We need to look at productivity and increase it.”Appreciating workersHaving risen from a shop steward, just prior to independence, to business owner currently, David Namalenga of Dinapama says that while the rights of workers are important and must be understood by employers, there are also responsibilities that come with these rights. “It is not what you demand; it is what you work for. We as employers need to appreciate our workers and their contribution to the economy, but with rights come responsibilities. If you do not sweat for what you eat, that is against the natural law,” he told Namibian Sun. “Unions must understand we need to manage the balance between rights and responsibilities.”But many workers are of the view that their unions do nothing tangible for them, save taking their fees and being emblazoned across newspaper headlines, because of infighting and financial mismanagement. Most say they are only doing the bidding of their political puppet masters and care zero for the plight of the workers.Danny Meyer of SME Compete is of the view that the trade unions have missed the opportunity to adjust their roles to cater for workers in an independent Namibia. Working mostly with formalising the informal sector, Meyer is of the view that unions need a new direction in Namibia.“Trade unions are very important for workers’ rights, but their role is also to uplift their members, including elements like education. One cannot stay in the same position for your entire life. In southern Africa, this role is largely forgotten. Unions should be helping their members with education, scholarships and so on. They should work to foster entrepreneurship in the face of retrenchments, helping the children of their members to secure vocational training opportunities and so on,” said Meyer.“They can form alliances with employers. They should not just negotiate for wages. The labour law is fair. Our maternity leave, workmen’s compensation and those social security elements are working, so in fact, the trade unions should ask, ‘now what?’ They must see the bigger picture and not just come out once a year when it is wage negotiation time.”Some believe that the trade unions, with their high levels of politicisation and the communist/socialist base they operate from, are slowly becoming redundant. One of the biggest threats to the unions is the growing informal sector in Africa where the employer/employee relationship no longer exists.Schillinger says that when there is an economic crunch or a cash crisis, the close relationship between state power and organised labour starts to crumble. This was evident in the 1980s in Europe. Further to this, the informal sector remains a major challenge. In Africa, he says, there are only a handful of examples where this has worked. These workers, he says, cannot be reached and brought together en masse, and further to this, many are a ‘one-man show’.In his view, “there is room for closer political cooperation between labour unions and informal sector organisations to lobby government on employment and poverty issues. Furthermore, most African economies are limited to the survival economy of the informal sector and a thorough modernisation is not forthcoming. Hence the prospects of stronger unionism are slim.”Job creationThe only real option according to Schillinger for potential exploitation by trade unions in Africa is the current trends in foreign investment on the continent. “However, the number of jobs created may not yet be significant in relation to the unemployment problem or compared to the size of the informal economy. In view of the high capital outlay of these investments, social peace must have preference over trade union-free zones and low wages from an investor’s point of view.”Arandis mayor and former trade unionist Risto Kapenda disagrees saying trade unions are still very relevant with an unchanged role and that their political alliances are vital to them.“The strongest unions are aligned with political parties. It is unwise or even suicidal if there is no ideology. How else can the union influence the political sphere? If it is at all possible, they must try and take over. We have seen it in Zambia, the United Kingdom, Scandinavian countries and even in China where the workers currently rule.”Some agree saying that Zimbabwe’s Morgan Tsvangirai from the Movement for Democratic Change aligned incorrectly and this is why he is not in power.But Kapenda agrees that there are problems. “There is a lot to be improved. Workers are not well organised. They need to reorganised and speak in one voice then the employer will recognise you. With all the infighting and divisions in the unions, the employers are taking advantage of this. It is up to the workers to control their unions.”Regarding the redundancy of the communist and socialist ideals of the trade union movement as a whole, Kapenda disagrees.“The union is owned by the workers and its leaders must be revolutionaries. They should not be capitalists otherwise the workers will suffer and the leaders will enjoy. This is why the majority of our workers are not impactful. They are not permanently employed. They need reorganisation.”Schillinger writes that trade unions remain an important political force in many countries due to their numbers, their wide reach and their potential for mobilising members. However, he adds that “future trade union mobilisation will play an important role in particular in situations of political transition and in the struggle against authoritarianism.” He adds though, that trade unions will also have to act on deteriorating living standards and the sharp increase in food prices, for example.The consensus appears to be clear. Trade unions have to start acting on the social conditions flowing out of unemployment. As Tjizu told Namibian Sun, “they need to separate political activity and bread and butter issues.”YANNA SMITH

Weakened and heavily compromised

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-17

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Weakened and heavily compromised

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-17

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