Haindongo Nghidipohamba Nanditume v Minister of Defence (Labour Court 2000)
2nd January 2000, 12:00 pm
Nanditume sued the National Defence Force (NDF) in the Labour Court for denying him employment due solely to his HIV status. The NDF had a blanket pre-employment testing policy and refused to hire anyone who tested positive for HIV regardless of the individual’s physical fitness. Employees of NDF were not tested for HIV nor dismissed if HIV positive.

The Court held that the blanket policy constituted unfair discrimination prohibited under the Labour Act. The Court rejected the NDF’s arguments of military necessity pointing to the fact that it did not take into account HIV status of those already employed with the NDF. The Court held that HIV testing could only assist in the assessment of physical fitness if it was accompanied by a CD4 cell count and a viral load test.

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