Back to the drawing board for fisheries, labour ministries

It’s back to the drawing board for the fisheries and labour ministries who find themselves between a rock and a hard place after meeting with ex-Okapale fishermen last week.

Fisheries minister Derek Klazen and his labour counterpart minister Utoni Nujoma met last week with over 200 fishermen employed under the Government Employment Redress Programme (GERP).

During the meeting, several challenges were highlighted, including salaries and a lack of boats and quotas.

“We need to look at our findings from this meeting. We need to sit down with the companies again and renegotiate with them because we cannot continue with this situation and the unhappiness of the workers. We also spoke to the companies, that they must not victimise these workers when they are speaking out. Also, what the companies have agreed with the two ministries – they need to fulfil that obligation,” Klazen said following the meeting.

Economic hurdles

As an example of the quota challenges, Klazen said two companies had formed a joint venture, with one as the rights holder and the other as the operator.

“They jointly signed the agreement with the ministry, and the operator indicated that they would provide the boat. But after negotiations with the ministry, the operator realised – it was hake – that it doesn’t make economic sense for them to bring in a boat as the amount of quota the government is giving is not enough.”

Adding to the dilemma faced by employers, Klazen also highlighted one incident where a company said their boat couldn’t wait for a year to start operations.

He also cited that another company applied for a certain metric tonne per worker, but government could not assist. “We have a standard rate. This is why we are emphasising that we need to go back and see how we can assist these companies that really want to bring in boats.”

Nujoma also reiterated that Namibia has limited marine resources.

“The fisheries ministry needs to constantly listen to the scientists – we need to preserve this resource for future generations. We had sardines prior to independence, and now they're gone, and we need to be careful with our hake and horse mackerel.”

Nujoma added: “We have a limited resource, TAC is limited, government cannot sacrifice the scientist’s recommendation, that’s why we are looking at the best possible ways. The ex-striking workers must realise that the government has met them halfway and cannot continue to be held at ransom. We need to find a way out as to how we deal with this situation.”

To sea

Klazen said another challenge is the difference in salaries workers earn on a boat, which is significantly higher than when working at land-based operations.

“When you work on a boat, it is around N$16 000, while at home, it is around N$4 000 to N$5 000. Some get benefits such as medical aid, pension, housing, and transport allowances – that’s what the two ministries were fighting for – to have the basic benefits in these agreements.”

However, the minister added: “We simply do not have enough boats in Namibia for these workers to go to sea.”

Another challenge is that companies can only accommodate a small number of workers on boats.

“The workers need to understand that not all of them can go out to sea. So, 2 000 people want to go to sea, which means we need new boats, but our TAC does not allow more boats.”

Wage differences

With regards to labour, Nujoma added that they were listening attentively. “Some of the workers were complaining of the lack of protective work gear or the re-using of this gear. Some are also complaining of the low wages. There was a company identified; while some companies are paying N$25 per hour, others are paying N$15 per hour. This discrepancy must be addressed.”