Staff Reporter
Richard Mushaukwa, the only labour inspector in the Zambezi Region, has raised concerns that employers in the region are not complying with the Labour Act, specifically citing issues such as failure to pay employees for overtime and failure to pay the minimum wage.
“I can say 80% of employers are not complying with the national minimum wage. The other issue is that employers are not paying overtime for work performed after working hours, on Sundays and public holidays. Some of the companies are not paying the correct rates for overtime,” he said.
Mushaukwa made these remarks following the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Poverty Eradication, Labour and Industrial Relations’ assessment of employment conditions in the retail and wholesale sectors in the region.
Video: Parliament of the Republic of Namibia.
He also identified unfair dismissal as a major concern, saying many employers fail to follow proper procedures when terminating employees, while both employers and workers lack sufficient knowledge of the Labour Act.
“Unfair dismissal is also very high. You’ll find that employers do not follow the correct procedures when they are dismissing employees. They’ll just dismiss [employees] on the spot. They don’t conduct disciplinary hearings. I think that is due to a lack of education. Employers do not have knowledge of the Labour Act and employees also do not have knowledge of the Labour Act. Those are the challenges,” Mushaukwa said.
He said the committee plans to hold stakeholder engagements aimed at educating people in the region about the provisions of the Labour Act.
