DJ Mo (Moses Kairimuti) fired from NAMIU

THE love-hate relationship between the acting secretary general of the Namibia Music Industry Union (NAMIU), Moses Kairimuti (also known as DJ Mo), and Jessy Nombanza, acting president of the union, has taken a serious twist after Nombanza fired Kairimuti from the union on Friday.

The action follows Kairimuti’s ongoing dispute with Nombanza, in which he basically accused the Ndilimani Cultural Troupe leader of incompetence.
In a strongly worded letter sent to Kairimuti before a midday media briefing at the NUNW headquarters last Thursday, Nombanza first ordered Kairimuti to stop his unauthorised activity, adding that Kairimuti did not have the mandate to stage such a gathering, a call which the latter ignored.

“I want to advise you that you are about to engage yourself in an illegal action that will have serious consequences.

“The media conference you are busy with was not discussed by NAMIU’s executive committee and as the acting president of NAMIU I have no knowledge about such a media conference, its content or purpose,” the letter read.
The letter further directed Kairimuti to stop all unauthorised activities in the name of NAMIU, the recently revived trade union for musicians, which is affiliated to the National Union of Namibian Workers, with immediate effect.

Because of his reluctance to adhere to the directive from Nombanza, the acting executive committee of NAMIU held an extraordinary meeting at which it was decided to dismiss Kairimuti on Friday.

Speaking to The Namibian on Tuesday, Nombanza confirmed Kairimuti’s dismissal, citing insubordination, fraud, negligently handling firearms at the workplace as well as verbal threats to shoot people as some of the reasons that prompted the action.

Police Warrant Officer Kauna Shikwambi confirmed on enquiry that a pistol and a shotgun were confiscated from Kairimuti last Friday.
“The shotgun was left in the custody of Kairimuti’s brother while the pistol is at the Katutura Police Station,” she said.

Kairimuti, who is no stranger to controversy, is said to have accrued debt of close to N$300 000 on behalf of the music union, which included bookings of bus tickets to an Independence celebrations bash in Cape Town in March, accommodation for the artists plus unpaid performance fees to artists like Gazza, Tunakie, Vanity, D-Naff, Tequila, Lady May and Patricia /Ochurus, who is also acting deputy secretary general of the music union.

However, Kairimuti laughed off the latest standoff, stating that only paid-up members of NAMIU had the right to say anything about the union.
“Jessy (Nombanza) has no right to stop me from talking to members of the media because firstly, it is my democratic right, and secondly, I am still the acting secretary general of NAMIU as far as I am concerned,” he said.
“He is not even a paid-up member of the union, how can he tell me to shut up? I will not allow him (Jessy) or (Evilastus) Kaaronda (secretary general of the NUNW) to use their autocratic style of doing things to scare me off. I have laboured hard for the revival of this union,” he said.

Kairimuti further accused the two leaders, together with Swapo Youth League secretary Elijah Ngurare, of holding secret meetings at the Swapo headquarters, with the aim of discrediting him with the artists and to oust him from office.
“When I worked tirelessly to establish the union, I was a good person, now their argument seems to be that a Herero cannot run a union of which the majority members are Wambos,” he said, while calling for the death of tribalism at the same time.

Kairimuti added that he managed to revive the music union with his own funds and that he also registered the bulk of Namibia’s artists. He claimed that Nombanza, in his years as acting secretary general, could only register a handful of members from 2002 to 2008, while he had registered hundreds in only one year in office.

Meanwhile, Jessy Nombanza warned people not to engage in business deals with Kairimuti on behalf of NAMIU, saying the music union was now working out ways to pay back the debt accrued by him.

conrad@namibian.com.na

Credit: www.namibian.com.na