Novanam facilities. (Photo: Pescanova)
NAMIBIAFriday, June 05, 2015, 23:00 (GMT + 9)
The High Court of Namibia has decided to definitively validate the dismissal of 297 employees of the company Novanam, a subsidiary of the Galician multinational firm Pescanova.
The dismissed employees, who had been suspended by the company in July 2012, accused of stealing goods, tried to appeal the measure, but were unsuccessful.
A spokesperson for the Namibian Government, Jan Scholtz, sharply criticized the decision taken by Judge Peter Shivute.
According to what local newspaper New Era reported, Scholtz pointed out in a statement that most of the dismissed workers are women, so he expressed "fear" about his future and that of his school age children, who "are being punished" by this action.
In addition, he said that some workers are paying their home loans and "there is a high possibility they will lose their houses" as they can be without their only source of income.
Scholtz claimed that despite several attempts to make Novanam review the issue in order to discover the "intellectual authors" of the massive theft and ensure a "fair" process, the authorities never provided information.
Given this situation, she requested the mediation of the Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation, Erkki Ngimtina, for him to intervene in the labour dispute.
Scholtz stressed that the layoffs only serve to worsen the high levels of poverty and contribute to unemployment.
Sources consulted by the Spanish newspaper Faro de Vigo pointed out that David M. Pokolo, responsible for Human Resources of Novanam, "is still the head" of the firm Pacific Fish Distributors and that would give him half stake in Pescanova’s subsidiary.
During the investigation it was found that the executive was the figurehead who Pescanova had to control Novonam irregularly.