Trainees from the marginalised communities sponsored by Palms for Life at the Tukurenu Community Skills Development Centre at Rundu are not happy with the treatment they receive from the sponsors.

The trainees, the majority of them from the Khwe community residing in the Bwabwata National Park, received training on vocational skills at various levels.

Palms for Life is a non-governmental organisation that solicits funds from donors for the empowerment of marginalised groups in Namibia.

More than 800 youth from San communities across the country are undertaking vocational skills training at COSDECs.

The trainees at Rundu-based Tukurenu COSDEC say some of their training mates have been suspended from the programme for no reason and without a hearing.

The suspended trainees denied absconding from the programme but rather said they went home to wait until they could rewrite courses they had failed.

Other complaints include a lack of entertainment, especially television, at the accommodation facility, which causes some trainees to roam around.

Their monthly stipends and food rations have also been reduced without any explanation.

Contacted for comment, Palms for Life Programme Coordinator Esme ||Hoeses says the organisation did not dismiss the trainees in question, but they dismissed themselves.

||Hoeses says the trainees absconded for a month, which resulted in an automatic expulsion from the programme without a hearing.

She noted that Palms for Life depends on donors; therefore, it could only afford the N$500 per trainee for cosmetics, while food and accommodation are covered.

There are more than 100 male and female trainees at the Tukurenu COSDEC doing courses in bricklaying, electrical, plumbing, metal fabrication, tailoring, and office administration.