Airports Company Defends Its Position

Magreth Nunuhe

10 May 2011

Windhoek — Namibia Airports Company (NAC) says the appointment and performance of a permanent chief executive officer (CEO) is the prerogative of its board of directors.

Struggle Ihuhua, NCA Acting GM: Commercial Services, was responding to questions based on a series of accusations from employees against management, including the acting CEO, Matti Asino, whom they claimed has been in the acting position for three years while interested candidates had not been interviewed and nobody has been appointed.

“You must appreciate that the search to find a suitable candidate can be a tedious one, given the various stakeholders that ought to be consulted prior to the announcement of a permanent candidate,” explained Ihuhua, although he did not say why such an appointment would take that long or whether candidates that were previously interviewed for the job were suitable or not.

One such candidate the employees claimed qualified for the position of CEO was Bernard Samvula, head of administration, who had apparently also applied but did not get the job.

Ihuhua simply said “for the sake of continuity and stability of the company, the Board has seconded one of its directors, Advocate Matti Asino to steer the ship while a permanent candidate is being sought. His performance too is the prerogative of the Board in their prudent execution of their fiduciary duties.”

He further stated that it was their observation that most questions raised were of a personal nature and “hardly have bearing on the operation and management of our airports”.

“We would like to encourage our employees or any other aggrieved party that the NAC does have policies and procedures in place to address grievances, including some of the ones alleged in your list of questions.”

Ihuhua said at no time had such allegations or grievances been reported to the company’s industrial officer, his immediate supervisors or the office of the Acting CEO or the Labour Commissioner.

“Thus, if these are valid concerns or grievances, we request that any aggrieved party addresses such in line with the directives of our company’s policies.”

But employees alleged in an article published in New Era on April 27, entitled “Airport workers could go on strike”, that the acting CEO and the acting airport manager, Norman Pule, do not want to listen to them or consult them.

“If you don’t do as you are told, you are disciplined for insubordination,” the employees charged. Napwu senior organiser, Cleophas Katuuo, confirmed in an earlier report that he had forwarded employees’ grievances to NAC management but had not received a response.

Allegations made against management include management’s plan to slash the number of employees per shift by half, airport cars that are left without petrol especially over weekends, storerooms that are locked over weekends making it difficult for staff to function, staff fearing for their lives as the bus that transports them to and from Windhoek is in bad shape, those that live near the airport having to stay late but not being paid overtime when an aeroplane is delayed, and customers complaining about broken toilets, especially over weekends but staff not able to call plumbers when off duty.

However, Ihuhua dismissed many of the claims, saying it would be highly irresponsible for management not to address safety, security, non-compliance to the country’s prevailing Labour Act laws and operational costs.

“The opposite is that management has addressed these areas, however, one can safely assume that those who inadvertently benefited from overtime claims, are now parading as aggrieved parties.”

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