The Aranos Constituency Regional Councillor, Salomon Boois, says his office is inundated with unfair labor practice complaints because there is no office of the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations, and Employment Creation in the village.

 

Boois says those registering labor cases at his office are mostly farm workers.

 

"Every month I have maybe three to five labor cases, and in the absence of the labor officer, it is very difficult to immediately give attention to these issues because, in many cases, they are unfair practices. So, I am working on that problem. I will invite the labor inspector to come maybe next week so we can see how to solve this. I am also planning to visit the farmers' associations and the commercial farmers' associations so that I can speak to them. I think the main problem here is that there are no proper agreements, an employment agreement between the employer and employee, and if we could solve that and if both parties could understand that, there must be an official agreement, then most of the problems would be solved."

 

Other challenges Boois highlights include drug abuse, especially among teenagers.

 

Moreover, the regional councilor revealed plans are in the infant stage to set up a N$20 million small factory to produce furniture from the invasive Prosopis trees.

 

"What I am planning with interesting business partners is that we get timber out of those trees for manufacturing furniture and also to produce fodder for livestock because we grind the branches to make fodder for the livestock, so if it is successful, it could turn into a big industry locally."

 

Boois says his office has also started negotiating with the local authority to secure land for food security projects.

 

Salomon April is the Regional Councilor for the Aranos Constituency. "Now that we are planning projects like vegetable production, we have a challenge with this uranium mining, which has become news in the whole of Namibia because we are now afraid. What we think will happen if this uranium pollutes the underground services is that it will totally damage the flora, fauna, and human beings in the long run. So that is the challenge, and we are waiting to hear what their decision is about that matter."

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Luqman Cloete