Budgets out of sync with Vision 2030

FRITZ H DAUSAB WRITES:After the just tabled Namibia Budget 2021, even the cattle in the Red Zone have started to walk back to Angolan side - heartbroken. Having a grand Vision 2030, broken down in 5-year segments in the NDP1-5 plans- have not ushered in any manufacturing ability in Namibia.This short piece will analyse the Namibian budgets against Vision 2030. Namibians are allowed to question all these development plans, as the only sectors having grown over these pas three decades have been the services industry, tourism, mining and fishing sectors. Yet these sectors have their own negative impacts for Namibia.Starting with services industries, it is driven by banking sector and government services, yet as we know 75% of our banks are from South Africa. Our tourism sectors are majority owned by the white segment of our population, which means only a certain segment of Namibians accumulate wealth. The mining sectors is our most troubled segment as a sector who in some cases do not pay company taxes in Namibia. Most of our minerals are exported in raw form, which shows that Namibia does not add any value to our minerals or process it in any way.Examining our uranium sector, it is astonishing that China has bought all our mines. Chinese companies in Namibia do generally not pay employees high salaries nor do they employ Namibians in management positions - those positions in Chinese companies are selected for Chinese. Strange that Namibia, who came from Apartheid era, allows such apartheid practices after independence.Namibia is one of top 5 unequal countries in the world, due to more than 90 years of apartheid legacies, yet the same liberating party continued with the same apartheid policies since independence.Examining the new budget and critiquing the appropriation to the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation with N$162 692 000 or the N$159 797 000 for the Ministry of Industrialization and Trade, Namibians should question our esteemed Minister of Finance. What was SWAPO thinking?Or is this a collective failure by the governing party?Since independence, parliament discusses the budget, but the budget has never been changed after this. Parliament is the only body in which opposition parties can criticise the budget and attempt to influence it.Namibia should move away from budgets only set by the executive arm of the government, as all political parties in parliament are sent their by Namibians. Our aims are different, and the way other parties will represent their members are influenced by their members’ needs.In discussions with another political party, LPM stated directly that they want the billions spent on Defence to be utilized for agriculture and the buying of farms near Neckertal dam. In this way government can be seen as practical and willing to appreciate peace in Namibia.If Namibia wants to be serious in her quest to be a developed nation, Namibia should move away from ‘correct’ budgets as prescribed by World Bank. These budgets inter alia are aimed at social development and education, but refrain from addressing manufacturing capabilities. The same with SACU rules, which only added a very small component which should be used for development. Yet, the ruling party uses that one or two billion per year for operational expenses of government.In short, the lack of political will by the ruling party in the face of hardships faced by Namibians, is blatantly repulsive. It is known by many Namibians that Swapo is only practicing belly politics since 1990. Examples of these fraudulent and heartless governance was the billions thrown at the National Planning Commission, which from inception never created one job (here the author would love to be proved wrong); or the billions misspent on mass housing; inflated tenders to build elite projects through consultants is the norm in Namibia.As fuel is the basic ingredient for economic development, why would Swapo hold the South of Namibia to ransom with expensive fuel? Swapo could have decades ago set up a refinery at Lüderitz, or a gas-to-fuel plant like Sasol in South Africa, and utilized the Kudu offshore gas field.

Budgets out of sync with Vision 2030

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Republikein 2026-06-10

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Budgets out of sync with Vision 2030

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Republikein 2026-06-10

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