Business Reporter
THE former employees of Air Namibia, who were cast into unemployment in early 2021, will have to face another long wait until the rest of their severance packages are paid out after liquidators John Bruni and Ian Robert McLaren gave notice to appeal to the Supreme Court, challenging a High Court order which instructed them to pay severance payments in full.
The liquidation of Air Namibia served as a formal notice of dismissal to the employees, making it necessary for the liquidators, David John Bruni and Ian Robert McLaren, to pay severance to the dismissed employees in terms of Section 35 of the Labour Act 11 of 2007. However, a dispute arose regarding the calculation of the severance pay.
The liquidators argued that Air Namibia’s contributions towards the employees’ pension, social security, and medical aid were not remuneration in terms of the Labour Act.
The dismissed employees argued otherwise, contending that those contributions formed part of their remuneration. High Court judge Collins Parker, ruled in favour of the former employees, a decision now being challenged by the liquidators in the Supreme Court.
In an interview with Informanté, former senior cabin control officer and spokesperson of the ex-employees, Renier Bougard, said the liquidators had filed a notice to appeal, but that the appeal had not yet been granted, as the judges still needed to review whether there was is a case for appeal.
He further accused the liquidators of misusing the monies in the liquidation accounts, adding that in the SME Bank case, Bruni and McLaren used N$100 million to pay for lawyers and investigators to recover N$130 million of the missing funds.
“They failed at the first hurdle, with High Court judge Parker ordering them to recalculate the amounts and pay them within 14 days of the amended liquidation and distribution account. Now they have filed a notice of appeal. Who pays for all these court cases? They are using our money, out of the liquidation and distribution account to pay for this, as they have set aside an amount of N$300,000 for security of costs for the case. We are people who have lost our livelihoods; many people still have not found employment. They just want to keep this little money. It is N$2 or N$3 million. Let us go in peace. People have already lost their lives; people have committed suicide. Nobody is speaking about the 10 ex-Air Namibia employees who have died. During COVID-19, a lot of people lost their jobs, and many of them were paid their severance packages all at once, but we have had to wait three years to get ours. It is not fair towards us. Are we not Namibians? Are we not part of this Namibian house? Why are we being treated like this because we worked for Air Namibia? And now, still having to go to the High Court and then the Supreme Court just to get that remaining money,” an aggrieved Bougard said.