Catch-21 Media

24/02/2023

Metal Mill Striking employees return to work

47 employees of the Metal Mill company in the Erongo region will be going back to work. This development follows a successful mediation process initiated by Hon. Neville Andre Itope, Governor of the Erongo region.

Metal Mill, provides engineering and maintenance services to Andrada's Uis mine through a long-term agreement.

The dispute regarding wages stems from when the employees jointly decided not to accept an additional 2-year extension of their contracts because their demands for the hourly wage rate to be increased to N$90p/h were rejected by their management at the end of last year. Metal Mills says, the demands equate to to an average increase of 118%, varying, between 31% and 480% of current employee packages.

According to the press statement released by Office of the Erongo Regional Governor today, the contracts were in line with the minimum wages for the Construction Industries Federation of Namibia and the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union as regulated by a collective agreement.

The statement further revealed that wages paid by Metal Mill were between 6% and 116% higher than those prescribed in the Federations collective agreement.

Itope, in his statements also shared observations on the Labour Relations Climate in the Region noted during his engagement with employees, such as, Non-adherence to conducive working relations of the work places, Intentional disregard for basic employment regulations, as well as the complete disregard for standing rules of engagements as it relates to collective bargaining principles, Non-compliances by employers to the basic employment conditions of employment and the Non-compliance to the Affirmative Action Act. The Office of the Governor strongly "condemns the deplorable state of labour Relations in the region." the statement reads.

11 of the Metal Mill striking employees will be re-employed immediately by the company, while Andrada has also agreed to absorb an additional 10 of the striking-47 into available vacancies in its engineering and maintenance department, while the remaining 16 will also be absorbed into non-artisanal jobs as of March 2023

Photos Contributed

05/11/2022

This is amazing🤩🤩

15/07/2022

Congratulations to Namibia's Brave Warriors for booking their ticket in the 2022 Cosafa Cup Finals. Singing Red, Blue,Green and White. Bring it home Boys.

Photo Credit: NFA Page

12/09/2021

AR leader and City of Windhoek Mayor, Cllr Job Amupanda has made a go at Higher Education Minister, Dr Itah Kandji- Murangi.

In a lengthy Facebook post by the youthful politician, he alleges that the minister is pushing to unfairly award a tender to her associates- via a PPP arrangement; to construct a student village on land that was initially given by the City of Windhoek, for the purpose of building student accommodation in Khomasdal.

Amupanda says the minister is trying to protect her interests, as she now plans to take the Tender outside the Ministry for preparation administration and adjudication by what he calls ‘Corrupt Stooges primarily at NUST or alternatively her Corrupt Stooges at National Council of Higher Education’.

Stay tuned for more.
Photo: contributed.

10/09/2021

Serious about Road Safety: We have just received news that the Erongo region CCTV and Traffic Management system is up and fully operational. Stay safe on the road this weekend.

10/09/2021

Christine K Mboma-Forever our pride 🇳🇦 🇳🇦💎💎

06/09/2021

The following video was posted by Cllr Job Shipululo Amupanda. It appears that a group of about five persons assumed to be representatives of the upcoming trade union- Revolutionary Union (RU) walked into a restaurant to confront a foreign national on allegations of Employee Mistreatment/Unfair Labour. This publication will bring you a follow up as soon as all the facts are clear. Watch the video and share your comments.

02/09/2021

02/09/2021

Note 📝

01/09/2021

Note: MTC Namibia has issued an alert regarding a note circulating on social media; informing clients that the company is offering its clients free airtime and data. The mobile communications giant distances itself from the note, calling it ‘fake news’

01/09/2021

From Namibia to the world: Henk Botha’s girls or Mbomasilingi as they are affectionately known, call them whatever you want, because they are unstoppable.

The duo first started to grab headlines after qualifying for the 2020 Toyko Olympics in sensational fashion. However, their joy was short-lived after World Athletics announced, that they have banned the girls from competing in any distance between 400m to 1500m - attributing the decision to a high-volume of testosterone. Caster Semenya from South Africa has previously suffered the same fate.

The body suspects that females with higher than normal levels of testosterone have a competitive advantage in middle-distance races. Recent reports point to a hasty decision, as there is no conclusive evidence to support this narrative.

The news didn’t deter Mboma and Masilingi’s determination who instead focused all their efforts on the 200m. This decision paid off greatly.

The girls made an impressive debut on the world-stage, stunning the world and making Namibians proud with their excellent performance. Christine Mboma became the first women to win a silver medal at the Olympics and this at just 18-years of age, Masilingi also announced her arrival clocking a Personal Best.

The Duo went on to cement their place as world-class athletes at the recently concluded, U/20 World Championships, breaking 2 world-records between them and of course winning both gold and silver in the 200m women’s race.

Namibia is proud and the world has taken note.

Coach Henk Botha excitedly announced recently that the duo have been invited to compete at the Brussels Diamond League - the Diamond League is dubbed as “Ivy-league an “elite level” and “cream of the crop” outside of the Olympics. The girls are scheduled to line up this coming Friday, against the likes of Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce from Jaimaica and Sha’Carri Richardson from USA.

Amongst the very best in the world- we have no doubt that they will give the “best” a run for their money.


💎

29/08/2021

Another one!
Ananias Shikongo scoops the silver medal in the men’s 400m - T11🇳🇦🇳🇦🔥🔥