Govt asks court to stop strike The Labour Division in the High Court today will hear an urgent application brought by the government in a last-ditch attempt to temporarily freeze a planned teachers'' strike slated to start on Thursday.Government is asking the court to order a temporary suspension of the planned strike to allow time for the strike rules to be revised to avoid disrupting national examinations that started in late September.
According to the papers filed, the strike would cause “irreparable harm” to students, parents and the government if it goes ahead on Thursday. The government argues that should the strike go ahead this week, Namibia risks fines amounting to millions of Namibian dollars for contravening accreditation agreements with Cambridge University, the international examination authority.
“The strike will have serious implications on the national examinations and will paralyse the education sector as a whole,” education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa wrote in her affidavit.
She said compromising the terms and conditions of the Cambridge examination system could incur fines of up to N$21 million, should the examinations be cancelled.
Himarwa said a strike could jeopardise the future of more than 115 000 grade 10 and grade 12 students registered to take part in the national examinations, risking cancellation of their university admission, for which many parents have already made down payments.
“The finances of paying parents will be compromised... Some parents have already paid in advance for registration of their children, in order to secure placement at institutions of higher learning, as well as visas.”
Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, cited as the first applicant in the application, states in her affidavit that the strike would cause government to “suffer huge financial losses”. According to her it has already resulted in “numerous incidences of anxiety and unsettling of learners due to the uncertainty pertaining to the examinations.”
She states in her affidavit that the parents have inundated the Ministry of Education and the office of the prime minister with calls seeking clarification about the examinations.
Moreover, she claims parents have asked the government what mechanisms have been put in place to cushion the blow from the strike.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila states that due to the sheer size of the strike, putting in place sufficient and useful mechanisms in the timeframe available to assist parents and students is almost impossible.
The court will hear the government''s objections to the strike conciliator''s decision to permit teachers to picket as close as 500 metres from school grounds, arguing that strike actions should be held at regional or local educational offices.
“The conciliator also failed to consider that picketing 500 metres away from schools may have the effect of intimidating, coercing, threatening or assaulting non-striking teachers and other educational officers by those participating in the strike,” the prime minister''s affidavit states.
In her affidavit, the prime minister notes that according to article 20 of the constitution, primary education is compulsory and government is entrusted with the duty to provide this right to all residents.
The strike rules ignore this provision, government argues in the court papers, noting that “regrettably the conciliator''s decision does not purport to pay attention to these constitutional imperatives.”
On Friday, the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (Tucna) argued that government''s interpretation of the law, regarding the appointment of non-paid volunteers in the place of striking teachers, is illegal and could jeopardise future strike actions.
Paulus Hango, president of Tucna, argued that the attempt to replace striking teachers in order to keep schools open and examinations on track jeopardises the effectiveness of strike actions.
He warned that should volunteers be deployed, unions would demonstrate countrywide.
“The tool of striking becomes ineffective,” he said.
The Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) also weighed in over the weekend, saying that Namibia''s education sector is facing its worst crisis since independence.
Following an urgent meeting on Friday, the CCN “unanimously agreed to urgently work towards averting the envisaged industrial action … as this will have disastrous consequences on the education sector and the country as a whole.”
Their strategy includes meeting with relevant trade unions today in an effort to assist in resolving the negotiation deadlock. Moreover, the CCN has called on parents, and stakeholders in the private sector, to do their part in helping to stop the strike.
The urgent application lists Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila as the first applicant, the Public Service Commission as the second applicant and minister of education Katrina Hanse-Himarwa as the third applicant.
Four respondents are listed, starting with the Namibian National Teachers Union (Nantu), the Labour Commissioner, the conciliator Maiba Bester, and the Inspector-General of the Namibian Police.
JANA-MARI SMITH