A new union called the Association of Mineworkers Beneficiaries Namibia (AMBENA) has been launched in Windhoek. 

AMBENA will be advocating for the rights and benefits of current and former mineworkers.

The association educates all mineworkers about their rights to fringe benefits and their wellbeing.

They will also empower mineworkers and former mine employees and negotiate on their behalf for benefits that have been promised but not delivered by the business arm of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia.

The association will engage current and former mineworkers about issues that concern them.

The new group says it will engage the Namit Trust of the MUN to resolve pending issues and change the livelihoods of the mineworkers.

AMBENA was established out of frustration with mineworkers receiving little benefit from the Namibia Miners Investment Trust, or Namit Trust.

The interim chairperson of AMBENA Dumba Kayundju says that Namit Trust made a number of unfulfilled promises.

''AMBENA is the ears of the deaf, the eyes of the blind, and the voice of the voice less so in that way. I would like to say to the members of Mines Workers, to the members of the union, and to the association that there is nothing for us without us. ''

''The mine workers union of Namibia was established in 1986; thereafter, during the congress of 1997, the members decided and took the resolution to establish Namit, and in the same year, the NHS decided to establish Namit Trust on behalf of the members with the money drawn from our company, which is our money. In 1997, when Namit was established, an amount of N$600,000 was drawn from the Mines Workers Union account in order to establish Namit. The reason was that Namit should assist workers on behalf of the members in order to benefit the members in the future.''

Namit just introduced an education and SME Fund, as well as legal protection, for its current and former members and their dependents.