Landless People’s Movement leader, Bernadus Swartbooi, has pledged the party’s support for the civil servants who just concluded elections on whether or not to have a nationwide strike.

The voting process came after the trade unions representing workers reached a deadlock on the wage negotiations with government.

Speaking at the party’s fifth Political Action Committee (PAC) meeting held in Swakopmund on Saturday, Swartbooi said the civil servants’ plight has not been seen as important enough.

“We want to express solidarity with the civil servants of Namibia who have legitimate and legal concerns after not having received any salary adjustments for the past five consecutive financial years.

They have been ignored and therefore whatever the outcome of the vote is, we would like them to know that we support them and that we are with them,” Swartbooi noted.

He stressed that government should have given these workers the salary adjustments after negotiations with unions, given the hiking prices in the standard of living over the years.

‘Do not [civil servants] allow others to determine how your finances should look after all those years as only you know your circumstances.

We know the work that some of you do for this country. They built this country and take care of us and at the end of the day this country emerges victorious because of them,” he urged.

He urged the civil servants to never relent and stick to their goals, as long as they are legal and within the ambit of the law.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency