Andrew Kathindi
The Namibia Employers’ Federation (NEF) says the relief package announced by Social Security Commission (SSC) and the N$8.1 billion Ministry of Finance stimulus package are not enough to rescue the economy and businesses negatively affected by the outbreak of COVID-19 and the lockdown.
This comes as the tourism sector, which was meant to benefit from government funding promised by the Ministry of Finance, is yet to receive its allocated N$400 million subsidy.
“I think the relief packages announced by Finance and SSC were targeted where the most urgent needs are, and that was for the poorest of the poor. So, I don’t think the relief packages are going to have any impact on the economy. I don’t think the relief packages are going to save the economy. It may save some lives or give food to some people but in terms of the national economy, it won’t have much impact,” Secretary General of the Namibia Employers’ Federation (NEF), Daan Strauss told Windhoek Observer.
Strauss said that it is not because of COVID-19 that the economy is in a mess, but rather a result of the four-year recession the country had before.
“It happened that many businesses retrenched, however with the new labour directives from government, compelling businesses not to retrench workers, many of these employers find themselves outside of the law,” he said.
Strauss said that discussions are still continuing regarding the proposed government labour regulations.
“There are two sides to this matter. On the one hand we can negotiate, we can engage in tripartite discussions, on the other hand we need to help employees to deal with the situation. If consultation with the tripartite or with government doesn’t work, our only option is to litigate, to actually go to court and set these directives aside because employers just can’t afford it,” Strauss said.
He, however, said banks have been accommodating in terms of payment holidays.
“Banks have been accommodating and I don’t think the postponement of payment will harm businesses in the future unless the economy doesn’t recover quickly, but the recovery process is going to be rather slow.
Asked whether the new Stage 2 measures of the lockdown will alleviate the pressures on employers, Strauss said it is difficult to answer as there is still much confusion in terms of the interpretation of those in terms of the labour directives.
“Some of the directives dictate that you cannot operate fully and must maintain social distancing, those who have transport businesses can only transport half the passengers you usually transported. Government encourages us to let vulnerable people work at home so there are many issues that will influence us getting back to normal,” he said.
Meanwhile Deputy Director of Labour Market Information in the Ministry of Labour, David Iigonda said that companies have been forced to retrench because of the financial pressures brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdown.
“What we discovered is the first group that was retrenched was those with low level of education or low level of skills. But now even career professionals are being affected because companies could not sustain themselves.
“COVID-19 found us with already existing problems. When the lockdown was announced, some businesses had to retrench their workers as they were operating from hand-to-mouth. Within two weeks, we are already seeing retrenchments as businesses had not built enough reserves to sustain their operations during a period like the lockdown,” he said.
