Namibia: a trust betrayed – again?

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Notes

Sam Nujoma, ‘Where we came from’ (capital letters in the original), posted at the SWAPO Party web site: http://www.swapoparty.org/where_we_came_from.html [accessed 16 July 2010]. ‘Founding Father of the Republic of Namibia’ is the official title conferred upon Sam Nujoma by the members of Parliament when he retired after three terms in office as Head of State (1990–2005). For the third term in office a first change of Namibia's constitution was required.

This represented the relevant background to the award to Martti Ahtisaari – the UN Commissioner for Namibia at the time and in charge of the UN Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG) – of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008.

Namibia ranks among those countries with the biggest income gaps in the world and the highest discrepancies in the distribution of wealth, in terms of the Gini coefficient. Nominally, the average income per capita even among the poorer segments of society has grown slightly. But when measured against the cost of living and the lack of basic social services, as well as other criteria contributing to the Human Development Index, the overall trend is negative. As one UNDP-affiliated economist concluded, ‘over time income poverty appears to be decreasing while human poverty is increasing’ (Levine 2007, p. 29).

This term has been used by Andrew Feinstein (2010) with reference to similar strategies in South Africa: ‘The practice of high-ranking members of the party, and those close to them, benefiting from decisions about tenders of the government has become so widespread that the title “tenderpreneur” has been coined to describe the beneficiaries.’

Quoted in Brigitte Weidlich, ‘Namibia: politics and economics are bedfellows – Shangala’, The Namibian (Windhoek), 27 May 2010.

It therefore comes as no surprise that Kaapama (2010, p. 202) concludes: ‘The implementation of the Land Resettlement Programme seems to be riddled by numerous significant challenges which lead to procrastination of implementation. The same applies to the significant downgrading of the initiatives for integrated rural development and poverty reduction … [I]t is alleged that the “economics of affection” have found expression in the ties of political patronage, which are being exploited by some bearers of political office and bureaucrats alike as elaborate avenues for allocating preferential treatment to party stalwarts, as well as friends and relatives of the ruling elite.’

This is by no means some kind of weird satire but was indeed the reason given by the Permanent Secretary justifying the expense of a brand new Mercedes-Benz fleet for members of the new cabinet at a total cost of N$300 million.

The NUNW president, in a press conference, cited a lack of creative ideas to address poverty as the reason for this move and stated: ‘We are sincere in our belief that there's serious need for poverty alleviation in this country. We believe that that the [BIG] coalition's idea is good but not the best. We're striving for the best.’ He further emphasised the need to reproduce wealth, which, in his view, would be almost impossible if money were handed out to individuals for free: ‘We'd rather suggest that instead of giving out $100 to everyone each month, Government should be pushed to make it easier for equity participation by Namibians in local companies.’ Quoted in Toivo Ndjebela, ‘NUNW dumps BIG Coalition’, New Era (Windhoek), 8 July 2010.

Recall the social awareness and responsibility expressed by Thomas Paine in his tract ‘Agrarian Justice’ of 1797, where he argues for the creation of a national fund to provide every citizen above the age of 21 with an annual financial amount independent of their other income and property. ‘Poverty’, as he diagnosed, ‘is a thing created by that which is called civilized life’. As a result, so-called civilisation ‘make[s] one part of the society more affluent, and the other more wretched, than would have been the lot in a natural state’. He therefore maintained: ‘It is not charity but a right, not bounty but justice, that I am pleading for.’ In Namibia, more than two centuries later, the argument still holds.