Air Namibia And Its Exorbitant Salaries

I HAVE always been critical of the developments at Air Namibia.

I could never understand why it was necessary to hire foreigners as General Managers who did nothing but run this company into the ground by purchasing the wrong planes and failing to organise an efficient service and ensuring that the aircraft was on time. One of the managers received an exorbitant salary of N$ 150 000 per month and eventually still a golden handshake of a few million when he left.All he did for us was purchase planes that cannot make a profit and thereby create a permanent financial embarrassment to the company and the Namibian State.I always stated that a Namibian management team should be able to do much better and now that a Namibian management team has been instated, the result is that foreign users of our airline are most impressed with the extremely cautious and friendly service they are getting on the plane.They are also impressed by the fact that the seats leave enough leg room for the long distance flights to make the flight a pleasure and they are impressed that the planes are usually on time.It seems that the present management has really been successful in achieving a turn-around in the image of our airline and that is why I write this letter.To show them that their efforts are noticed by the customers and are appreciated by us as citizens.We can now again be proud of our national airline.What one would only wish was that a similarly competent management team is instated at other parastatals such as NamPost, where we often pay a ten times higher postage for our letters, which then either never arrive, or even when sent by airmail, arrive 10 or 14 days late.Students often do not receive their notification of exam dates on time and thus miss them.Shareholders do not receive the notifications of shareholder meetings and income tax forms are sometimes delayed causing penalties and irritation.NamPost also thinks they must hold back letters that were allegedly stamped too low in foreign countries from which they originate, having the effect that those letters eventually arrive on your desk two or three months later.We need managers in our parastatals that can actually manage and know what they are doing.Thousands and thousands of people are prejudiced if our parastatals do not function properly and merely cost us money.A Vaatz Windhoek Note: Address supplied – Ed.One of the managers received an exorbitant salary of N$ 150 000 per month and eventually still a golden handshake of a few million when he left.All he did for us was purchase planes that cannot make a profit and thereby create a permanent financial embarrassment to the company and the Namibian State.I always stated that a Namibian management team should be able to do much better and now that a Namibian management team has been instated, the result is that foreign users of our airline are most impressed with the extremely cautious and friendly service they are getting on the plane.They are also impressed by the fact that the seats leave enough leg room for the long distance flights to make the flight a pleasure and they are impressed that the planes are usually on time.It seems that the present management has really been successful in achieving a turn-around in the image of our airline and that is why I write this letter.To show them that their efforts are noticed by the customers and are appreciated by us as citizens.We can now again be proud of our national airline.What one would only wish was that a similarly competent management team is instated at other parastatals such as NamPost, where we often pay a ten times higher postage for our letters, which then either never arrive, or even when sent by airmail, arrive 10 or 14 days late.Students often do not receive their notification of exam dates on time and thus miss them.Shareholders do not receive the notifications of shareholder meetings and income tax forms are sometimes delayed causing penalties and irritation.NamPost also thinks they must hold back letters that were allegedly stamped too low in foreign countries from which they originate, having the effect that those letters eventually arrive on your desk two or three months later.We need managers in our parastatals that can actually manage and know what they are doing.Thousands and thousands of people are prejudiced if our parastatals do not function properly and merely cost us money.A Vaatz Windhoek Note: Address supplied – Ed.