A labour hire company, Employee Placement Services of Namibia (EPSN), has suspended some of its employees who participated in a protest organised by the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) at Oshakati on Friday last week.
The NEFF handed a petition to the office of Oshana governor Elia Irimari and the Rani Group, claiming exploitative contract labour practices in Namibia allegedly perpetuated by EPSN and other labour hire organisations.
The suspended employees work for Rani mini markets at Oshakati.
EPSN owner Gottlieb Ndjendjela, who is also the Swapo regional councillor for the Tsumeb constituency, confirmed the suspension.
Ndjendjela said the employees were not suspended because they participated in the protest but because they had left their duty stations without his company’s permission.
“The bone of contention here is who gave you permission when you ran away from your duty?” Ndjendjela said.
He said 20 employees are currently on suspension pending an investigation.
However, Cornelius Nepela, who read the petition on behalf of the protesters on Friday, told The Namibian on Tuesday the suspended employees number 84.
He said the employees were told to go home on Friday when they returned to work from the petition handover.
“When they returned to work on Saturday, the management of Rani Group accepted them but later that day EPSN came and suspended them,” Nepela said.
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