Shilimela Advanced Security Services has allegedly failed to pay around 15 security guards in the Kunene Region since June 2021.
The security guards are based in Opuwo, Kamanjab and Sesfontein and guard multimillion-dollar government and parastatal buildings.
“We are constantly being threatened that we will lose our jobs if we speak up,” one of the security guards, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Nampa.
Opuwo Urban Constituency councillor, Ueutjerevi Ngunaihe, said the situation must be arrested.
“This man [Shilimela] is famous for abusing his employees and not paying them, but the government continues to give him contracts. It means the government is complicit in sponsoring the exploitation of its own people,” Ngunaihe said on Monday.
The guards’ salaries range between N.dollars 1 500 and N.dollars 2 500.
According to Ngunaihe, the constituency office has been forced to divert food meant for drought relief to the destitute guards.
Another security guard, who also preferred to remain anonymous, said the situation is dire, especially in January when children have to go back to school.
“We have families to feed. We are suffering,” he said.
Contacted for comment, the company’s owner Banda Shilimela vehemently denied the allegations.
“It is not true. How can a person not be paid from June last year and still be working? There is no truth in that. I am a law-abiding citizen,” he said.
Shilimela however conceded that salaries for December were delayed due to technical glitches, but were effected on Friday.
“No month has passed without us paying our employees their salaries,” he stated.
He also provided bank statements dating back to June 2020 to back his claims. Nampa could not independently verify the statements to determine their authenticity.
“I don’t want you to be fed with false information,” he said.
Despite Shilimela’s rebuttal, the security guards who preferred to remain unknown refuted his claims.
“It is not true. We have not been paid since June,” one of them said.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
