The owner of Petroport at Rundu, Mike du Preez, and his employees have come out in defense of a video that showed employees being beaten.

Both the employer and employee claimed the beating was part of a game they play at work, which has been taken out of context.

The clip circulating on social media is accompanied by an explanation that employees there are beaten in exchange for loans requested from the company.

Both the manager and the affected employees, however, claim this was all part of a game regularly played between managers and supervisors called "pirates."

"What we picked up when we got here is that this game has been going on and there are quite a number of videos that are not out there; regrettably, the video where Mr. Mike is being spanked is not shared, but what we have seen is that he is also being spanked by his employees. There is that video, and I believe the media can have access to it; they can be able to see it, and it will be shared with us so that the nation perhaps can have a picture of what exactly is going on," said Moses Shikerete, the spokesperson for SPYL.

The employees claim they played the game willingly.

"Boys being boys, because we were always trying to retaliate against each other as a group if we caught you doing something," he explained, adding, "I think it was the boss's way of discouraging people from lending out their own salaries; if you really want money, you have to get into the pirate game."

"The video you're seeing on social media was just a joke, nothing serious, we started by slabbing each other one day, and the person who leaked the video asked me to get them weed, then they elevated it from slapping to spanking, we never thought it would get to this level," says one of the victims.
 
Du Preez apologized for the inconvenience caused.

"First of all, I want to apologize to the leaders of the Kavango, then I want to apologize to my people, and then I want to apologize to Namibians and the nation for the thing I was doing wrong. Sometimes I wish I could talk about how my heart feels, but for the stupid mistake we were making, I apologize for that."

Damian Maghambayi, Chairperson of the Kavango East Region Council, urged the business community to collaborate with their employees.

"On behalf of all the leaders of the region, we are not happy about what has happened. That was a disgrace to the region and a disgrace to the country. It is also a violation of Article 8 of the Namibian Constitution. What we are saying is that business people in the region should refrain from racially discriminatory tendencies in the way they treat their employees. We have a lot of incidences that are happening in this region, be it sexual harassment or torture, and the employees also just keep quiet. They do not want to even speak up and say what is happening to them for fear of victimization. Some of them might be expelled from work."