Namibia: NCS Travel Woes Hit Breaking Point

Officers of the Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) have over the past years complained about insufficient vehicles and being stashed into overcrowded security vans, but their cries have fallen on deaf ears, their families say.

The Namibian this week spoke to several correctional service officers, who preferred to stay anonymous for fear of victimisation, who provided an overview of their often poor transport.

‘FORGIVE ME’

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NCS head commissioner general Raphael Hamunyela yesterday said he accepts blame for Saturday’s tragic accident.

“I asked the nation to forgive me, the families to forgive me, and everybody else. I ask God to also forgive me, because he is the one who put me here with this responsibility.

“But, let everyone help me also to improve,” he said.

NCS deputy commissioner general Sam Shaalulange yesterday told The Namibian “management warned the officers not to get into vehicles if they can see it is overloaded,” he said.

Shaalulange said the NCS is still investigating what happened on Saturday and declined to comment further.

Concerns about officers’ travelling conditions come at a time when members of parliament yesterday discussed the security cluster’s working conditions.

These concerns resurfaced after several NCS members died in a suspected head-on crash with a police vehicle along the Mariental-to-Kalkrand road over the weekend.

A total of 16 people died in the accident – 14 uniformed officers and two civilians.

One of the two civilians was eight months pregnant with twins, and the other civilian was her sister.

The NCS lost 12 staff members of the Hardap Correctional Facility outside Mariental.

The officers are transported from Mariental to the facility on a daily basis as the venue’s accommodation on site is insufficient.

Some of the family members of those who died have indicated that employees did not feel safe in the vehicles due to overloading, and that their complaints to the management fell on deaf ears.

COMPLAINTS

An officer at the Hardap Correctional Facility says the facility was equipped with a bus and a mini-van three years ago, but only the mini-van is currently in use, along with other pick-ups and vans.

“There is insufficient maintenance and the fleet is insufficient. The fleet we have is divided among operational activities at the facility, the transport of inmates and staff members.

“Then you have people who go on training and meetings to other towns and regions. So we make do with what is available at the time,” the officer told The Namibian yesterday.

Another officer said two months ago there seemed to be plans to accommodate officers on site.

She said they are awaiting the approval of village-type accommodation to provide housing for workers while on shift.

“Look at what mines are doing.

Why doesn’t the NCS also introduce a system of seven days in and seven days out? If they cannot build houses for all employees, at least with that system they can build sufficient rooms for members of one shift.”

This would eliminate the need to transport employees on a daily basis.

“We work in highly stressful conditions. We often struggle with mental health issues too.

Having accommodation, especially for those residing outside the facilities, would make a big difference,” she said.

Complaints about worker transport were raised by Independent Patriots for Change leader in parliament Imms Nashinge over the weekend.

He said the accident reveals the need to review the type of transport provided to officers.

Nashinge said it is unacceptable that those tasked with ensuring national security and correctional service are themselves put at high risk due to potentially inadequate or unsafe transportation.

“Let the memory of those we lost today be the catalyst for a fundamental change that makes our roads safer for all Namibians, especially those who serve us,” he said.

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah announced yesterday she would attend a memorial service for the crash victims at Mariental today.

Former Hardap Correctional Facility commissioner deputy commissioner Sam Franz confirmed that staff members were mostly transported in the mini-van.

“But both were available when I left.

“The accommodation available at the facility is not sufficient for everybody who goes in on a shift. It can only accommodate supervisors and a few service staff. But people are also buying houses at Mariental and choose to commute to work,” he said.

Current acting commissioner Fritz Oorlam yesterday declined to comment on the alleged overloading of vehicles.

KAVANGO WEST

An officer at the Elizabeth Nepemba Correctional Facility at Mile 10 village in the Kavango West region yesterday said they are struggling with transport in terms of security vans.

She said the lack of security vans puts the lives of officers in danger, particularly when inmates have to be transferred between distant regions.

“Imagine there are times two NCS officers are travelling in the back of a pick-up with inmates.

We face threats to our lives. When they realise who you are they threaten your family or people close to you. But these are the hazards of the profession we have chosen,” the officer said.

The biggest challenge facing the facility, however, is understaffing, she said.

“This facility is supposed to have 483 workers, that’s according to the organisational structure.

But currently we are just over 180. Meaning one person is doing the work of three people as we have a shortfall of 303 employees,” she said.

Currently, the facility houses 256 offenders.

ERONGO

An officer from the Omaruru Correctional Facility in the Erongo region yesterday told The Namibian transport shortages are a daily struggle, as well as uniforms for officers, and stationery for inmates participating in educational programmes.

The officer said to keep vehicles running they sometimes receive donations of vehicle parts from the public.

“There are people in the business community who will assist us with a burst tyre, others will lend us their spare tyre when we have to travel outside of Omaruru and we realise we do not have a spare tyre,” the officer said.

He said the maintenance of vehicles is a big problem.

“I’m standing here looking at our yard. The number of vehicles that can alleviate the problems we face … Sometimes you can wait up to three months for a purchase order to be approved,” he said.

He said there are times they receive sedan vehicles while they requested security vans.

For the officers working at the Windhoek Correctional Facility, the long walks to pick-up points is problematic.

“While walking you can be mugged or assaulted, but there are central points to be picked up. I think only night shift members are picked up at their homes,” an officer said.

She said their mode of transport switches between a mini-van and a pick-up.

“There was a time we were transported in the back of a truck, but that has changed now.”

Meanwhile, Hamunyela yesterday said he was informed by the officer in charge that he once saw 12 officers getting out of a pick-up and that he walked to them and told them never again to exceed the carrying capacity of six people.

“My officers in charge noted the situation and have been addressing it. But the members are telling us that the drivers tell them to either jump in or be left behind,” Hamunyela said.

He said on Saturday, both the mini-van and the bus were available, but the driver chose the pick-up.

“These accidents are making me lose vehicles like flies. Accidents, accidents, accidents. We are monitoring fuel and distance to gauge speeding, but these things are happening.”

Hamunyela acknowledged the lack of security vans countrywide and said it is true that officers sometimes sit in the back of a pick-up with inmates as they don’t have double-cab vehicles either.

“Imagine a place like Omaruru Correctional Facility. They transport people to court from Omaruru to Otjiwarongo, Outjo, and Khorixas in one day.

You need officers to remain at the towns with inmates, and that is how they end up together,” he said.

Hamunyela said the government has decided to build villages around correctional facilities for employees.

He said Windhoek has started with the project and that this would be completed as soon as finances and land become available.

“In Hardap’s case there is enough land to build. It will be for about 400 people. But their children would still be transported to schools, because you can’t build a school there.”