Fourth-year law students from the University of Namibia (UNAM) have partnered with the Namibian Revolutionary Transport and Manufacturing Union (NARETU) to offer training to shop stewards on how to better represent workers in a changing working environment. 

UNAM students, working as Corinth UNAM Legal Aid, conducted the 2025 Central Region Workshop, covering topics like labour rights, the prevention of unfair practices, workplace representation, financial literacy, pensions, investments, and medical benefits.

Mary Mutonga, the organisational secretary for NARETU, explained the purpose of the training. "Labour law is quite technical. So this is why we then, when the firm Corinth, a group of a hypothetical law firm from UNAM, reached out to us for them to train our shop stewards, saw it as an opportunity since they have quite the expertise in terms of labour and legal aspects to come and train our shop stewards in that area. So that is how the partnership came about."

Mutonga emphasised the importance of unity in safeguarding workers' rights. 

"The reality is that most companies are still resistant to being unionised, regardless of it being a constitutional right in terms of Article 21. We are still facing that anti-union sentiment, and now these people don't want people to know their rights. When people know their rights, they start advocating for better wage conditions and better employment conditions, and companies don't want that. Namibia is one of the countries where we have cheap labour, unlike our counterparts in South Africa."

UNAM's law students expressed commitment to community service through this collaborative initiative, adding that labour law remains a complex and challenging area for many Namibians.