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afrol.com, 28 September - Fishing companies must create a more transparent relationship with their employees to avoid crippling strikes that have been hitting the industry. This is the advise of Namibian President, Sam Nujoma, at the opening of the Corvima Investment’s new long-term hake and large pelagic fish factory in Walvis Bay, 300 kilometres west of Windhoek. The President further called on the fishing enterprises to end the colonial era practice of not disclosing their profits to workers. He told the audience that he hoped “union leaders and employees would find an amicable solution and bring an end to the strikes that have been reported recently at Luderitz”. The President said because of the strikes, Namibia’s reputation as an investment country was being “hurt and tarnished.” He called for better communication between all role players in the fishing sector, stating that the fisheries industry should look towards the achievements of the Ongopolo Mining and Processing Limited, the copper mine in Tsumeb, about 400 kilometres north of Windhoek, for inspiration. The President called on all fishing companies to live up to their part in addressing the social development of their employees and the nation as a whole. “It is unethical for some Namibians to live in untold luxury while others live in object of poverty. I strongly believe that the private sector must plough back some of their profits into the society from which they derived such profits in the first place,” Nujoma stated. At the same time, he acknowledged the commitment of companies such as Corvima Investment to the economic and social advancement of Namibians. On the fisheries industry itself, the President noted that its contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continues to expand growing from 10.1 per cent 1998 in 1996 to an expected 11 per cent the current financial year. However, Nujoma called on companies to upgrade the technology applied in their enterprises to improve on the quality of Namibian fish products so that they could become more competitive on the world market. With this in mind, he praised Corvima for introducing the use of ozone cleaning technologies in its factory and suggested that other companies in Namibia follow its example. Though expensive to initiate, he said such technologies are far more effective than
chlorine and evaporates into the atmosphere soon after use, hence reducing the company’s water requirement. The new Corvima factory will process both long line hake and large pelagic fish species such as Swordfish, Oil fish, Mako shark, Moon fish, Tuna and blue shark.
Source: Namibian Government
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