The Mine Getting ready to Rumble?

[Michael Alexander]

Was talking to a nice lady a few hours back about how this whole ridiculous work permit situation is having a major negative effect on both the future of this mine and the morale of the workforce,

We discussed on another  topic how crooked the whole work permit situation in this Land of the Brave appears to be, how on earth does a highly qualified financial manager's work permit keep getting denied whilst other individuals like unskilled Chinese and Indian folk keep pouring into the Country..... Make no mistake, something is stinking in our Government,The Namibian Building industry is up in arms over the last 3 years at how "certain" Chinese groups keep getting allocated tenders, yet the locals get next to nothing.... on top of this, the Chinese folk do not buy anything local, they import the entire project in a container from China...I wonder which element of Government approves these work permits? IS somebody being enriched?

I am led to believe that our union are the stumbling block , preventing the Financial (amongst others) manager's permit from being issued, stating that his job was not advertised, strange this, because I actually read the advertisement a good few months back......  Make no mistake, this mine is not yet out of the woods, and this so called union leaders are following a similar path to what unions did to the UK in the late 60's and 70's....

It is only a matter of time, before DeBeers have enough and turn around and pull out of here, no 1st world company would entertain the  manner in which Gov/Union keep placing red tape in their paths.... Projects that should have been up and running, are way behind schedule as the expertise needed to get them up and running cannot get permits.... this is turn limits job creation and indirectly lessens the tax base from both employees and mining.

I hope the Unions understand one thing, if DeBeers pulls out, The Chinese and Generals pull in, they don't allow Unions and have no respect for the labour law..... and they do not entertain low productivity.....

Debeers directors are meant to be approving a further projects investment of up to N$ 200 million, but with all this work permit issues, don't be surprised that they don't...... and with it, your jobs will be gone....

I am still amazed that some of the other large mines in Namibia can operate without hindrance and still have at least 10% of their workforce as expats.....

Expats bring skills.....

One wonders who and why somebody is behind the whole process of denying work permits for DeBeers?



Just my 2 cents.....

[Andrew Thurtell]

  I agree Mike
i do alot of foreign trade , but i refuse to trade with china, for various reasons , some make sensible bussiness sense , but my moral values and character dictate that how on earth do you support a country that does respect democracy ,fair trade or another countries rules ..they are like leeches , suck you dry andleave you dry. they do not put value into there products or the country they are in. They manipulate there exchange rate, pay measley wages , have no unions, have no health and safety act ect...nope whoever does trade with them helps make the world a poorer place . You are actualy robing your own country iro jobs ect.....100 per cent behind  you on this one. there is a big push in the USA at the moment  to buy local as they realise that there economy will not grow without it...we need to do the same ....