Chinese construction companies in Namibia have been hit by a series of worker strikes over poor pay, job discrimination and lack of jobsite health and safety protections.
Construction of the $49-million, 231-kilometer Otjinene-Okondjatu trunk road by China Henan International Cooperation Group (Chico) was disrupted in November after more than 80 Namibian workers protested safety conditions.
The workers accused Chico of ferrying them in overcrowded and non-roadworthy open trucks and claimed the firm was using an outdated stone crusher that forced them to go inside it "to remove stuck stones,” exposing them to danger.
Lack of walkways also has exposed them to the risk of “plunging to death,” the workers claimed.
The Chico workers’ protest followed a September strike that involved workers of another Chinese contractor, China Harbour Engineering Co., on the $342-million Walvis Bay Container Terminal project, underway by Namibia’s state-owned port operator Namport to expand container-port capacity.