Namibian companies have joined together to create employment for 645 fishermen from the 1300 fishermen who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
CAVEM fishing created a joint venture with a group of companies to support local fishermen fend for their families and fight against hunger amid the pandemic. Over the past two years, a recorded number of 1300 have lost their jobs. Most of these fishermen lost their jobs because their employers had their quotas slashed, some participated in illegal strike and some lost their jobs because of COVID-19.
The news was confirmed by Tommy Ikela, head of administration at Cavema Fishing, Namibian Fisherman United Association chairman Mathew Lungameni and the association’s secretary Richard Mbaha confirmed this to the media on Tuesday. They said that the companies agreed to absorb the fishermen in exchange for receiving fishing quotas geared towards job creation.
“We have signed temporary employment contracts with the fishermen. These contracts are based on the allocation of quotas and are renewable based on that as well. In the meantime, while we are ironing out administration matters, we have been paying them a salary since September,” said Ikela.
The recruitment that is currently being guided by the master list that was provided by the labour ministry states that they are currently only taking in fishermen who have not secured a job since their retrenchment of firing because of the illegal strike.
“They should have commenced with work long ago, but that was delayed by administrative issues such as ensuring that everyone has an active bank account, as well as the verification of tax numbers,” concluded Ikela.
