Zorena Jantze
THE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Rehoboth Town Council, Simeon Kanime has urged striking employees at the town council to accept current socio-economic circumstances facing the country and live within their means.
The strike of the Town Council Employees which has been going on since last week Wednesday, has brought the provision of essential services such as water and electricity to a standstill. Kanime stated that the refusal by the Rehoboth town council to grant the employees a salary increment is based on governments directive that there would be no salary increment for civil servants.
“We made a budgetary provision for salary increments for the financial year 2022/23, then the ministry informed all local authorities to resubmit their budgets and remove all salary increments. It is not to say that the Rehoboth town council refuses to help workers, but we merely follow directives,” Kanime said.
He added that out of 57 local authorities throughout the country, it is only the Rehoboth town council employees which are on strike.
“It is not going to work. There are many people who are unemployed, some who are without food or shelter. The workers should just learn to live within their means and accept the situation,” He stated
Lesley Mosegedi, Namibia Public Workers Union (NAMPWU) representative of the striking workers stated that Kanime’s requests to the employees to abandon the strike was met with anger.
“This morning the CEO had a meeting with the workers and committee members. He told the employees to understand the current circumstances and go back to work, adding that employees who do not go back to work may face losing their job,” Mosegedi said.
Both the union representative, Mosegedi as well as the CEO stated that they would hold a meeting today with the Mayor and councilors to see if there can be a solution found to the ongoing strike.
“We are going to have a meeting today, but I have to be honest, we will not make false promises and say that there will be a salary increment even if its 2 or 3 %. This is not up to us, but is at the discretion of the ministry,” Kanime said.
