RCC finds own money to pay workers

THE Roads Contractor Company has had to rely on its own resources to pay the workers for the past two months after the government failed to come to their rescue.

The workers, who had to wait for close to a week for their salaries this month, were only paid on Tuesday this week.

This comes after the RCC decided to use some of its income generated from a project to pay the workers.

Although RCC acting chief executive officer Gerson Karaerua confirmed that the company started paying workers on Tuesday, he declined to say where the money had come from. The company normally receives money from the Ministry of Works and Transport to pay its workers.

The Public Service Union of Namibia’s acting secretary general Ujama Kaahangoro said the company sourced money from its own projects to pay August and September salaries.

“The ministry [works and transport] failed in their obligation to ensure that there is money to pay the workers at RCC. As I am talking to you now, payments started coming in as of yesterday (Tuesday). This is money that RCC got from a project they are running,” he added.

Kaahangoro said workers could not wait any longer for salaries due to interest on loans and other family obligations.

“The biggest problem is the ministry’s bureaucratic processes. It is an administrative process that has caused a delay in the salaries,” he added.

Works spokesperson Julius Ngweda explained that the situation in which the RCC finds itself comes from a combination of several factors, such as that the finance ministry has not provided any funds, and the works ministry has to fork out N$8 million.

“We identified some money from a developmental project, but the National Planning Commission refused to allow us to use that money, and we are now trying to send another letter. We hope to sort out their pay by Friday,” said Ngweda.

Finance minister Calle Schlettwein said whatever money the government had was already budgeted for.

“I have no legal authority to give any money out, apart from what was budgeted for,” said Schlettwein.

Just last Wednesday, Karaerua wrote an internal memorandum to inform workers that their salaries would be delayed.

He said at the time that the delay was due to technical challenges which were being experienced by the company.