Catherine Sasman
19 August 2008
Windhoek — Namibia Transport and Allied Workers Union (NATAU) has demanded that TransNamib CEO, Titus Haimbili, be reinstated and the newly instituted board removed, or else it would call its members at the parastatal to "withdraw their services".
The union gave TransNamib two days within which to respond to its demands.
President of NATAU and employee at TransNamib, David Tjombe, yesterday said the workers demand that the alleged irregularities for which Haimbili has been placed on "special leave" be made public.
The union further demanded the immediate withdrawal and removal of the newly appointed board chaired by Festus Lameck, claiming that it had "dismally failed to adequately honour its functional responsibility" at TransNamib.
NATAU further called on the Minister of Works and Transport to get involved in the "deteriorating situation".
The workers said failure to remove the board would jeopardise the national railway, "as all efforts and energy into this company could amount to zero with the demise of TransNamib and its board".
They further demanded that the investigation launched by Lameck should include the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), and asked at whose cost the investigation is to be done.
The workers suggested that Lameck acted in conflict of interest when Haimbili was told to leave for two months, since Lameck had been short-listed as one of the candidates who applied for the position of CEO at TransNamib.
"He [Lameck] wanted to come in as the CEO and the first bullet he shoots [as chairperson of the TransNamib board] is the person who beat him during the interviews," charged General Secretary of NATAU, John Kwedhi.
Lameck had earlier denied these allegations, and insisted that he had acted in concert with the rest of the board members when deciding that Haimbili should go on the imposed special leave.
The workers said there are many unresolved issues at TransNamib, which had been ignored by the new board.
One of the niggling issues remains the Chinese locomotives that were grounded, of which the findings of the appointed commission of enquiry is still outstanding.
"It seems as a historical trend of TransNamib management and its board style to manage and run the company affairs with or without a board or CEO," the workers said.
Tjombe said the six-month period during which Haimbili was the CEO of the company, was an "oasis of social development" in the company, and that "enormous improvement" was made under Haimbili's leadership.
"We are not threatening management or Government, but want to rescue the railway company; we do not want to see it liquidated," Tjombe said.
Workers also expressed fear that their salaries may not be paid out at the end of the month after financial institutions apparently withdrew their support from the financially troubled Trans-Namib after Haimbili's 'special leave'.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Era. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
