Otjiwarongo municipality employees stage peaceful demonstration

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More than 120 employees of the Otjiwarongo Municipality on Wednesday morning staged a peaceful demonstration, demanding improved working conditions.

During their street march, the employees called for the removal of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Moses Matyayi, who allegedly uses an autocratic system.

The workers had a petition they wanted to hand over to Matyayi at the municipal office building in town, but he allegedly refused by walking away from them without saying a word.

When approached for comment, Matyayi said he was in a meeting.

In the petition the workers called for Matyayi’s resignation, stating he is not a “caring” CEO, as in most cases he allegedly ignores workers’ grievances.

“We also demand payment of our once-off pay cheque as we have agreed with the councillors. This is our money which accumulated for a period of three years when we did not receive a salary increase,” they said.

The aggrieved employees further said there should be a fair recruitment process in accordance with the existing human resource policies of the municipality.

A salary structure review is another one of their demands, saying it is needed as a mechanism to rectify the current discrepancies within the municipality’s salary structures.

An additional demand in their petition is that of recognising employees through remuneration, especially employees who act in positions not theirs.

“We also demand that employees on contract be employed permanently and offered all benefits given to permanent employees of the municipality,” they stated.

Otjiwarongo Mayor, Gottlieb Shivute in an interview with Nampa on Wednesday said the workers’ demonstration was illegal, thus Matyayi had a right not to entertain it.

“I also denounce it as they did not exhaust the processes to get at that level,” said Shivute.

The mayor however concurred with the workers on the once-off payment, saying the Otjiwarongo Municipality council already resolved to pay them accumulated dues of a three-year period when they did not receive salary increments.

Namibia Public Workers Union officials led the demonstration.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency