By Cathy Godfrey
KATIMA MULILO, 28 April – Employees of CIS Security Company at Katima Mulilo have been making the rounds complaining about unpaid wages, dating as far back as last year.
The company is owned by former Sibbinda constituency councillor, Ignatius Chunga, and most of these security guards are stationed at schools in the area.
One of the complainants related that she had not received her March salary, while other colleagues were instructed to collect their wages. She is terrified that she will not get paid for April as well.
She said that she earns a basic salary of N$2 600, however, N$200 is deducted every month for her uniform, while she does not own boots or work pants. She feels this is unfair as the current uniforms she owns will have to be given back to the employer upon her resignation, without them returning her N$200 which was deducted every month. She says this is money she could have potentially saved. She added some colleagues had gone to the labour ministry offices to complain earlier in the year and some had been dismissed from work.
Another unhappy worker said she has been working for the company for more than five years and they always used to pay on time, but now she doesn’t understand where it all went wrong. She has decided that she will not work any longer as she is owed some months’ salary from last year and this year as well. She just wants the company to pay her all her outstanding wages as she is tired of fighting over remuneration that she has rightfully earned.
Another group of guards that we met at the CIS offices last Tuesday said they were promised they would receive their wages that Friday, however, Friday came and the commitment was not fulfilled, just more empty promises.
When asked about the allegations, owner Chunga said the company knows what they owe everybody and have it on record.
The reason for outstanding salaries was because CIS also gets paid by other companies, and this might delay the payment by a few days past the end of the month. However, they dispute owing any of their employees’ wages from last year and deny any knowledge of an allegation that the education ministry has decided to terminate the contract.
The Ministry of Labour, in response to a set of questions, said that they have received one case of unfair dismissal by four CIS employees which emanated from the employees asking the employer about their unpaid wages. This case was referred to the labour commissioner for conciliation and arbitration. An arbitration award was issued on 18 January 2022 for the employer to pay the affected employees by 28 February 2022.
The company, however, failed to comply and as a result, the ministry will apply for a writ of execution for the High Court to attach the movable property of the company, to pay the affected employees.
The ministry also said it has engaged CIS Security on several occasions about the non-payment of 60 employees’ salaries that led to complaints, and the company has committed to pay the outstanding wages by the end of April 2022.
A number of cases for non-payment of salaries by CIS Security had been recorded at the ministry prior to August 2021, where arbitration awards were made against the company and the labour office applied for writs of execution.
The Zambezi region, however, does not have a deputy sheriff to attach immovable properties from the company. – Namibia Daily News
