Workers employed by two transnational corporations in Namibia and by the Department of Water Affairs are amongst 2,000 people living in squatter camps under insanitary and squalid conditions. They are being charged up to R20 per tin shack by the owners on whose land the camps have been set up. None of the employers provide housing for their workforce, and the municipality of Okahandja, in whose area the squatter camps are situated, claims that it is not in a position to provide housing, or to send a health inspector to the camps to investigate conditions.
A reporter who visited the camps described them as settlements of squalor. 'Fowls compete with dirty nude toddlers in scrounging for food in rubbish dumps and rubble heaps. A few of the more fortunate squatters have a few goats, which live with the people in small confines'. At one of the camps there is no water, and people have to fetch their water supply from a reservoir near the landowner's house some 400 to 800 metres away.
Most of the people in the two camps visited by the reporter were employed by Southern Pipes, a French-owned company manufacturing cylinders for a water pipeline linking two dams, and Karoo Meat Packers, a South African-owned company which has a meat processing plant on the outskirts of Okahandja. Southern Pipes completed its contract at the end of November 1982, and its employees living in the squatter camps presumably lost their jobs.
The Town Clerk of Okahandja told the reporter that he was aware of the 'unspeakable conditions which have arisen as a result of a lack of public amenities and that the riverbeds are being used by hundreds of people there, and that this rubbish will go to the dam once it rains', but professed himself unable to do anything about it.
EVIDENCE TO SEMINAR The IDAF Research and Information Department presented evidence on labour conditions in Namibia to a Seminar in Washington, DC, on the Role of Transnational Corporations in Namibia. The Seminar, from 29 November-2 December 1982, was organised by the American Committee on Africa in co-operation with the UN Council for Namibia and SWAPO. IDAF's paper drew attention to the conditions of black workers employed by transnational companies in Namibia, unemployment and police repression.
STRIKE AT ORANJEMUND DIAMOND MINE The entire black work force at Consolidated Diamond Mines (CDM) in Oranjemund went on strike for 24 hours at the end of October 1982. The strike was in protest against the dismissal of two black workers, following an altercation with a white worker. The black workers forced the company to hold an inquiry into the incident, and complained about the racial discrimination practised against black employees of the company in several instances in the past.
The dispute arose from an incident in which, according to the workers, a white apprentice electrician, Visser, assaulted a black lorry driver, Daniel Gabriel, in the course of their work. Attempts by Daniel to lay a charge of assault against Visser through his supervisor failed, and Daniel, accompanied by a friend, David, returned to attack Visser.
The 5,000 strong black workforce went on strike, accusing the mine management of discrimination, since Visser, who allegedly had started the incident by assaulting Daniel, was not dismissed and was given preferential medical treatment.
In his report of the inquiry, CDM's General Manager said that the apprentice electrician had been found guilty of an offence, and had been given a final warning. It was found that in view of the circumstances Visser could no longer stay at Oranjemund and he had therefore been transferred with immediate effect. The company had, however, upheld its decision to dismiss the two black workers.
The report then proceeded to criticise the workers' right to strike, stressing that work stoppages were not the manner in which complaints should be aired.
In a letter to the Windhoek Observer, one worker at CDM said that, although workers had expected the dismissal of Visser rather than his transfer, they nevertheless regarded the outcome of their action as a victory. They had convinced the CDM management of the need to hold an inquiry, and Visser had also been found guilty of gross disorderly conduct. In future, no inconsistent managerial action would be tolerated by the oppressed workers, the writer stressed.
HOSTEL RESIDENTS ARRESTED Six hundred and fifty eight men and women were arrested at Katutura at the end of September, during police raids against those staying illegally at the 'single quarters' provided by the municipality for contract workers. They either paid admission of guilt fines, or appeared in court in Windhoek and were fined on conviction of illegal residence.
