Works and Transport Minister Veikko Nekundi has ordered road contractor John Namushehe CC to pay its employees their full salary by the end of this month.

This order follows a lengthy, late-night meeting between the minister, the Roads Authority, labour inspectors, and aggrieved employees.

John Namushehe CC is upgrading the Okondjatu-Okakarara Road, and it owes 70 employees a combined amount of N$450,000 in remuneration since December last year.

The non-payment issue was attributed to delayed invoice submissions, no proper paper trail of road works and assessments and poor communication between the Roads Authority and the contractor.

Nekundi said the contractor also needs to get its finances in order.

"So the team from the road authority and the company, composed of the financial experts from the local authority and the company and the engineers from the Roads Authority, must meet in order to assist the company to come up with the best model. Insofar as the performance is concerned, the performance will be able to assist the company to perform optimally, and by performing optimally, it will generate revenue that will be able to cover the cost and also be sustainable as an organisation." 

Nekundi also ordered RA's Board to investigate the matter and report back on the communities' request for rehabilitation of boreholes and earth dams.

"The first feedback is before the end of this week, the employees must get something for their bread on the table, for their meal, so that is the feedback; I must get it before Saturday. I must get through the Board, so we have a commitment on that feedback. The next feedback is the issue of rehabilitation of the borehole or so, which you will also be getting in the next two weeks; you must also get their feedback. Another aspect of the feedback I am receiving pertains to performance modelling, which includes financial performance modelling."

The contractor promised to pay the employees once the invoices were approved.

"If it comes because we have money for diesel, that money can't be directed to the workers. I don't have a problem with that. For me, I don't have a problem. There's not that one, and also the quantity that we worked, but it's not yet approved to be paid."

In the meantime, the company will provide advances to employees for basic necessities and food until the matter has been resolved.