McHenry Venaani with some fishermen in 2016
The Namibia Fisherman United Association says the Icelandic fishing company is not to blame for what happened to its members but the Namibian government is.
PDM president McHenry Venaani this week circulated a letter which he addressed to the Icelandic company Samherji that is at the centre of a massive scandal involving fishing quotas in Namibia.
Venaani’s letter was written after Samherji had issued a statement last week saying that they were preparing to close down shop in Namibia.
In response, Venaani said that Samherji should never be allowed to leave the country before compensating the fisherman who lost their jobs when the former fisheries minister Bernhard Esau gave quotas to Fishcor.
Venaani threatened to take Samherji to court if the company does not compensate the fishermen before leaving Namibia.
In a letter addressed to the PDM leader McHenry Venaani, the association’s chairperson Mathew Lungameni said Sanherji does not rule this country.
“We have a problem with your article that says you want to take Samherji of Iceland to court for retrenchment of fishermen. Samherji does not rule this country. The government does. The government must take action to seize Samherji’s assets to pay for the illegal retrenchment (dismissal) of fishermen,” Lungameni said.
According to Lungameni, it is also the government’s duty to reinstate them and to order the companies to pay out losses, overtime, right-out, interest and damages they suffered.
“If you can’t support our demands, we ask you to rather stay quiet,” Lungameni said, adding that it was wrong for anyone to say that the strike was illegal.
