Windhoek: The government has assured employees of Etosha Fishing that the company would receive a horse mackerel quota by next Tuesday. This assurance comes after a group of workers staged demonstrations in Windhoek and Walvis Bay over delayed quota allocations.

According to Namibia Press Agency, the company has about 430 workers who have gone about seven months without work. The group of employees called for fishing quotas to be allocated without delays, as these are crucial for their employment. In an interview with Nampa, Mining, Metal, Maritime and Construction Workers Union secretary general Joseph Garoeb stated that the lack of quotas has resulted in seasonal workers remaining without stable work for extended periods.

Garoeb highlighted the challenges faced by the workers, mentioning that they normally rely on government-issued fishing quotas to secure employment. For the past seven months, no quotas have been released to them. He indicated that the group traveled to Windhoek due to a lack of response, despite numerous attempts to seek answers from the authorities.

Receiving the petition during the demonstration, Deputy Executive Director at the ministry, Ueritjiua Kauaria, assured the employees that the company would receive the horse mackerel quota by next Tuesday. Kauaria explained that the Cabinet had addressed the issue and decided that the quota must be allocated as soon as possible.

In an interview with Nampa, Johannes Nghinamanhu, an employee with the company since 2015, expressed the difficulties faced by workers in providing for their families. He noted that the situation has been challenging since the introduction of a moratorium on pilchard fishing in 2017, which was originally implemented by Cabinet to halt commercial harvesting in an industry where Etosha Fishing operated.