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Karasburg locals angry over ‘outsiders’ working at farm


RESIDENTS of Karasburg in the //­Kharas region are disgruntled with the management of Komsberg Grape Farm for allegedly recruiting 30 employees from Ondangwa last week.

Ambrosius Rooi (46), a local resident, says the employees were transported to the farm by bus on Sunday.

He says two of his sons have applied for positions at the farm and handed in their documents at the office of the Karasburg East constituency councillor, Enseline Beukes, but this was to no avail.

He says only people from outside Karasburg have obtained employment at the town.

“The people come in from other places and get work here at Karasburg, while there are people from Karasburg who are also looking for work,” Rooi says.

He says the time has come for residents to stage demonstrations against recruitment companies’ processes.

Another resident, Ruben Vallein (28), says construction projects at the town also employ contractors from outside only.

“I came here three times looking for work, but they swear at you and say there is no work. And if I fought the man who spoke to me today, then I would have been the guilty one before the law,” he says.

Komsberg Grape Farm’s general manager, Jacques Clift, however, denies these allegations.

“We recruited people currently living on the farm. Areas we have sourced from lately are Karasburg, which had unemployed people. We also sourced people from smaller areas surrounding Karasburg.

“People from the northern parts are also employed at the farm,” he says.

Beukes says Karasburg’s disgruntled residents have a valid point, as farmworkers were in the past mostly recruited from the country’s northern regions.

She says she has met with the management of Komsberg Grape Farm to express the local community’s disappointment, and says the latest recruitment was done through her office.

“The farm called me and told me they need 60 people. We informed the community and received about 150 applications. We gave the names through to human resources at the farm, and a week thereafter they informed us that currently they can only take 32 and will recruit the other 30 at a later stage,” Beukes says.

She says the current positions involve seasonal work for a period of three months, and not all 150 people who applied can be accommodated.

“However, since I know the community members, I ensured that at least one person per household of the households we know are living below the breadline are employed, so we can share the cake.

“But I didn’t even get the whole cake. It’s only a slice that I got, and that slice at least we must share so that for three months I can take young people off the necks of their elders before they are unemployed again,” Beukes says.

Komsberg Grape Farm, an amalgamation of three farms of Socotra Private Limited, is situated in the south-eastern corner of Namibia bordering the Orange River, and produces premium table grapes and soft citrus fruit for the international export market.





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