• Other

Newsprint is 'like home'

Justicia Shipena



Mbangura was born and raised at Okoumbonde village, which is located in the Epukiro constituency of the Omaheke Region. He attended grades 1 and 2 at Bethold Himumuine Primary School in Windhoek and then moved to the Hipo Busman School in Omaheke Region where he attended his grades 3 and 4.

“Due to my parents not believing in school they had to take me out of school to go look after the livestock,” he said.

In 1977 he moved to Windhoek in search of work and he managed to secure a job at Standard Bank as a deliveryman. His responsibilities at the bank included getting post and delivering it from 1980 until 1986.

In 1986 he started working for Newsprint Namibia, which was previously called John Meinert Newsprint. He has worked for Newsprint Namibia for 30 consecutive years as a board operator.

At the beginning of his working career at Newsprint Namibia he was a cleaner and his responsibilities included washing small machines that were used to print books, after production.

“Most of the time I was doing nothing, as my job was after the people had done with printing and that gave me an opportunity to learn and watch how they were printing,” he said.

On a particular day there were only a few workers, and he was asked to help out. He impressed with the things that he knew and it was obvious that he could work as a printer. Since then he has been printing newspapers, books and catalogues.

Mbangura currently works as a board operator and his role includes operating the machine, making sure that it is clean and ready for the next task.

“Sometimes we have a lot of work and we have to manage to finish on time, as it is very important that we finish on time and we produce quality work,” he said.

Mbangura added that in December there is usually a lot of work, as there is a lot of special printing they have to do, as well as in January. He said sometimes when he gets to work he finds there is important news that needs to be printed.

“So I don't know in most cases what I will face until I get to work and I have to think fast in order to finish on time,” he said.

He said his biggest achievement was starting off as a cleaner and becoming a board operator.

“Now I'm one of the people that leads the others and I'm happy that I can teach others and do a proper job for the company to grow.”

Mbangura says Newsprint Namibia has become like a home for him.

“It is like a home to me and when one is home you have nowhere to go. I have seen people come and go, but I'm so happy to be part of this company,” he said.