Jonathan Sam
10 July 2009
Windhoek — The Director of the National Art Gallery of Namibia (NAGN), Joe Madisia, has rubbished claims of mismanagement made against him by some staff members at the institution he has been managing for a number of years.
The disgruntled workers allege Madisia is guilty of nepotism and tribalism, showing no respect towards his staff and running the gallery with an iron fist.
Madisia said this week that he was approached for comment by the media while he was in Italy for a workshop, but that he declined to comment until he had met with his staff. He held a staff meeting shortly after his arrival last week. All, except three staff members, attended the meeting at which the allegations of unfair labour practices, the resignation of staff and the Ombudsman's investigation into Madisia's management style were discussed.
The internationally known artist described the meeting as frank and fair and said that all staff members were granted opportunities to air their views without fear of victimisation.
"I gave each staff member present the opportunity to raise any issue they have against my management style or to support in any way the allegations that I administer the gallery with an iron fist as alleged by the media," Madisia said.
According to him not a single one of those present had anything against him.
"I had a list of about 75 percent of the staff, who indicated that they did not want to have anything to do with their colleagues, allegedly leaking information on the internal affairs of the gallery to the media. These signatories also felt that it was time that the air was cleared at the gallery because it was affecting their work performances and the general corporate culture. These workers requested their names not to be made public for fear of victimisation by some of their colleagues," he said.
He reiterated that a formal agreement on workers' grievances exists with a local union.
"I informed the meeting that if no one took responsibility for such false statements to the media I will have no choice but to call in the union [Namibia Public Workers' Union] (NAPWU) because the recognition agreement between NAPWU and NAGN prescribes that no party may approach the media before a deadlock is declared.
Their engagement of the media could then be considered a breach of the recognised agreement," Madisia explained.
With reference to the high number of resignations during his management term, Madisia provided statistics that the trend had actually declined since he took over the reins at the gallery. He added that many of those who had resigned had worked for a year or less and had provided acceptable personal reasons for their resignations.
The gallery boss had been reported to the Ombudsman for appointing a foreigner in the position of curator.
"The NAGN Board of Trustees had endorsed his recommendation in the absence of a suitably qualified local applicant," he asserted emphatically.
During this week's meeting some staff members requested the union's shop stewards to first hold a meeting of all staff members before issuing statements to the media so that all staff are informed of what information is provided to the media.
He intimated that the meeting was concluded with the majority of staff pledging their full support to him. Some staff members recommended that the meeting should be considered a fresh start for all staff members to work together in future.
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