Mining giant Namdeb on Wednesday announced that all its employees and contractors that are fully vaccinated against Coronavirus (COVID-19) will be paid a once-off payment of N.dollars 2 000 .

In a notice to the employees, Namdeb said the once-off payment will be paid via e-wallet to each employee or contractor upon producing their vaccination cards to their respective human resource department or contract manager.

The notice added that the incentive is valid until end of February.

Responding to questions send by Nampa on Wednesday, Namdeb chief executive officer, Riaan Burger, said as clear evidence exists that vaccination significantly reduces the risk of hospitalization and death, the company has introduced the incentive to encourage vaccination uptake.

“Namdeb remains steadfast in our efforts to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and we will continue to roll out targeted interventions aimed at encouraging participation in the vaccination campaign. This is in particular important as we do not know when the next wave of the pandemic will occur or how dangerous new variants might be. It is therefore critical that we continue to reduce the risk to the business and continue to support our community,” said Burger.

He said the outbreak of COVID-19 has not only had tragic consequences for so many people in the country, but has also negatively impacted Namdeb’s operations, with many employees in isolation and unable to perform their duties.

“We are committed to ensuring that hospitalisations are avoided and no more lives are lost due to COVID-19. We have therefore been encouraging every employee and contractor in our business to get vaccinated. In leading this effort, everyone in the Namdeb senior leadership team have already been fully vaccinated against the virus,” said Burger.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency