Justicia Shipena
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform Inge Zaamwani-Kamwi says efforts to engage fishermen under the Government Employment Redress Programme have reached a deadlock because they refuse to listen to the government’s position.
Zaamwani-Kamwi said the fishermen continue to demand that they be moved from one company to another, despite being informed that such a move cannot be approved at this stage.
This comes as on Wednesday, the fishermen, mostly from the Erongo region, travelled to Windhoek to demand answers from the minister on their petition calling for better working conditions and salaries.
They said they continue to face exploitation, unemployment and broken promises from the government and partner companies.
“Every time we engage them, they don’t want to listen to our side of the story. They want their side of the story,” she said.
She explained that the ministry had already responded to the fishermen’s petition, which was submitted last month.
“We have spent enough time together with my colleague responsible for labour relations, engaging the employees in May, June, July and again in September. We have said everything that we wanted to say and done everything that we needed to do. We have put that in our response. But now they don’t want to receive their response,” she said.
Zaamwani-Kamwi stated that the Government Employment Redress Programme cannot meet the demands of fishermen at this time.
She said this is because an audit by the office of the attorney general into the programme is still ongoing.
“We have requested the office of the attorney general to look into this Government Employment Redress Programme. Until such time that outcome is out, that will inform us on the way forward. We are not going to do anything,” she said.
She added that the attorney general is expected to give recommendations by the end of December, after which the ministry will make final decisions in January.
This follows Cabinet’s recent decision to set the hake Total Allowable Catch (TAC) at 133 000 metric tonnes for the 2025/26 fishing season, down from last year’s one-off allocation of 140 000 metric tonnes.
Last year, Cabinet announced that the 2024/25 TAC would run from 1 November 2024 to 30 September 2025.
At that time, the Cabinet had instructed the Fisheries Ministry to gradually reduce quotas in accordance with scientific advice.
“The quota will be used in line with the recommendations of the scientists. Everybody should afford the same reduction in their allocation. It’s not as if we are only employing the Redress Programme,” she said.
Zaamwani-Kamwi stressed that the ministry remains committed to fairness and transparency but said there is little more her office can do until the attorney general’s report is completed.
The fishermen were placed in various companies under the Government Employment Redress Programme, which was created to re-employ workers who lost their jobs during the 2015 strike and the Fishrot scandal.
