New provisions for tightening registration of the Namibian labour force, and indirectly, for reintroducing a form of influx control, have been announced in a draft proclamation gazetted by the Administrator General.
The *Draft Manpower Bureaux Proclamation* No. 88 of 22 August 1984 gives the authorities new, wideranging powers, while repealing ten pieces of earlier legislation regulating the movement of workers. It provides for the creation of a central manpower bureau under the authority of the Secretary of Civic Affairs and Manpower, and of local labour bureaux in particular districts.
The draft proclamation's stated purpose is to 'place workseekers in employment, render assistance to employers in this respect and for that purpose register the employment of employees (Statement by Department of Civic Affairs and Manpower, WA 24.8.84).
It authorises the secretary of the Department of Civic Affairs and Manpower to obtain information about job opportunities from any person or official, as well as stipulated information from employers and employees or prospective employees. Within 90 days of the new legislation coming into effect, employers are obliged to obtain service certificates for all their existing staff. All new employees taken on after that period must be registered. A Service Certificate may only be issued if the employee has a Namibian identity document or an application for such.
Specially appointed inspectors have powers to ensure adherence to the new law. For this purpose, an inspector is empowered to enter any place or any premises when he has reason to believe that there are employees employed on such premises, question any person he finds there, examine any book or document found on the premises which he believes refer to employment, copy or seize such documents, and take with him any member of the police force when entering the premises.
The draft proclamation provides for a maximum fine of R500 or six months imprisonment or both for any person contravening the new regulations. Those employed for less than three months as 'household servants, laundry women or gardeners' are exempt from registration. The proclamation was published in draft form to invite comment and discussion, and was due to come into operation at a date to be fixed by the Administrator General.
The provisions set out in the draft proclamation would appear to grossly exceed the measures necessary for efficient manpower planning and monitoring. In the context of South Africa's apartheid policies in Namibia, such labour control measures have been used to reinforce the contract labour system and to ensure that those without jobs remained in the 'homelands'. The proposed new legislation would enable the authorities to maintain tight control over a registered workforce, and possibly deny employment to those deemed to be undesirable by refusing to issue an employment certificate. It would allow the authorities to compile records about any person in employment or seeking employment, which could be used to keep track of their political or trade union activities (WA 23.8.84; *Draft Manpower Bureau Proclamation*, ibid).
WORKERS UNPROTECTED The new legislation is being prepared at a time of high and growing unemployment amongst black Namibian workers, and in the context of existing restrictions on trade union rights. While it places an obligation on employers to register their employees, it makes no provisions for improving workers' conditions, safeguarding their jobs, or ensuring proper employment practices. The majority of black Namibian workers, facing job insecurity, poor working conditions and low wages, as well as harassment from the police at their homes and work, have few means of improving their situation.
Black workers have no rights regarding periods of notice, pensions, sick leave, maternity leave, holiday pay and other statutory benefits (WA 17.8.82).
Existing labour legislation lays down stringent conditions for the registration of trade unions, effectively preventing militant black trade unions from being recognised (see *Workers of Namibia*, IDAF, 1979, Ch. VI). Speaking at the annual general meeting of the white-dominated SWA Confederation of Labour (SWACOL) in September 1983, the Administrator General confirmed that unregistered trade unions were illegal and that no enforceable agreement can emerge between an unregistered trade union and any employer's group. The president of SWACOL told the AGM that political and labour struggles should be kept apart and, presumably in reference to the National Union of Namibian Workers, criticized the 'labour militancy' of SWAPO (WA 19.9.83).
LIVING CONDITIONS Working and living conditions for most black workers, particularly those in the agricultural and domestic service sectors, are known to be very poor. However, workers employed by the big multinational corporations also face discrimination, poor living conditions, and risks to their health.
The Tsumeb Corporation, for instance, provides only 15% of its black workforce with family housing; the remainder, who are permanent employees, commute over weekends or for leave periods to the Ovambo region (FM 22.7.83). Some black workers employed at the Otjihase mine owned by Tsumeb appeared not to be given any accommodation at all. In September 1984, seventy families were moved from a squatter camp on Kappsfarm near Windhoek after administration health workers had found the camp unhygienic. The majority of the estimated 70 men living in the camp were employed at Otjihase, Strijdom Airport and in government departments in Windhoek. Tsumeb's policy at Otjihase was apparently not to provide accommodation to married workers in its single quarters. Some of the families were moved into emergency accommodation but many were apparently transported to Ovambo, while the male workers returned to the single quarters' at Otjihase mine (WA 11/25.9.84).
REDUNDANCIES Hundreds of workers faced redundancy and lay-offs as major employers in the mining, fishing and agricultural sectors implemented a programme of closures and 'rationalisation'.
Total employment in the mining sector fell by 13.6 per cent in 1983, reducing the workforce from 19,580 in 1982 to 16,903 in 1983, according to the president of the Chamber of Mines.
In December 1983, Tsumeb Corporation announced that it was closing down its Matchless copper mine near Windhoek, with the retrenchment of 920 workers, of whom 690 were black. Some had been working for the company for 20 years or more (WA 10.2.83).
In January 1984, 110 workers out of a total workforce of 260 were laid off at Oamites copper mine near Windhoek, following a surface subsidence at the mine (WA 2.2.84). Employment in the meat processing industry declined drastically as abattoirs closed or reduced operations. Damara Meat Packers announced in August 1983 that it was shutting down its abattoir in Otavi, leaving nearly 400 workers jobless. A spokesman for the Karoo meat plant at Okahandja said the plant was slaughtering at 20 per cent capacity, and people had been laid off. ENOK, the state owned development corporation, had laid off staff at its meat canning factory in Oshakati (WA 15.8.83).
The beef canning industry was reported in February 1984 to have retrenched between 500 and 600 people during the previous month. The probable closure of one of the two remaining beef processing plants by September 1984 was announced by an industry spokesman, threatening further redundancies (WO 4.2.84, 11.8.84).
NO CASH WAGES The decline in agricultural production, both as a result of the drought and the growing number of deserted white owned farms, has further worsened the conditions of black farm workers. According to agricultural officials, 100,000 Namibians and their dependents relied on commercial agriculture for their livelihood.
Many farmers were cutting down their workforce, and unemployed farmworkers were reported to be flocking into towns, adding to the already overcrowded conditions. In some smaller towns, 20 people were living in one house. There was now an abundance of farm labour, the secretary of the Agricultural Employers Association said in August 1984. In parts of Namibia, some labourers received no cash wages, only payment in kind. No statistics of the number involved were available (WA 15.8.84).
OTHER SECTORS HIT Workers in other sectors of the economy, including manufacturing and service industries, have not escaped the growth in unemployment. A major steel manufacturing company was reported in February 1984 to have reduced its workforce from 150 to 70, and introduced a four-day working week. The Black Chain supermarket in Katutura sacked 44 employees in April 1984, reducing its workforce by one-third. They received no redundancy pay. A furniture factory in Okahandja presented its 168 employees with a choice of 50 retrenchments or a shorter working week in August 1984. The workers opted for a four-day week (WA 21.2.84; 4.4.84; 8.8.84).
POLICE HARASSMENT Black workers laid off as a result of closures and retrenchment programmes face destitution and the prospect of harassment or arrest by police, either as 'vagrants' or 'illegal residents' in the black townships. Police raids are carried out under the pretext of 'anti-crime or anti-terrorism' swoops, or to 'clean up' the workers' hostels.
During one such operation reported in March 1984 for example, described as a 'cleaning-up' action, a contingent of the police Task Force invaded the single quarters in Katutura, removed people's possessions, threatened residents with knives and pieces of metal piping, and reportedly beat one person unconscious. Often police apparently took goods on the pretext that they were stolen, or removed money. The majority of residents in the single quarters were unemployed, and many started small trading businesses such as selling food or brewing beer to eke out a living (WO 31.3.84).
