Stop this curse called NEEEF (Part 3)

Robin C Raines writes:As small as mine and other businesses are, big businesses in Namibia will also be impacted by NEEEF.When the true intent finally comes out, it will be too late and the ordinary (poor) people will have no one to blame but the government. Why, because the ordinary citizen in the street will have benefitted nothing from NEEEF while the elite will have grown richer.This is not the first time this type of regime practice has taken place in Africa or for that matter the world at large. The government of the day in Germany did this in 1935, the years thereafter and ordinary citizens the world over, not only in Germany, suffered the consequences.Ordinary Zimbabweans today have suffered for years and still continue to do so today, with Mugabe as the world’s oldest president and look where they are today? Our southern neighbour, South Africa, has had this practice implemented for over twenty years and they have achieved nothing except placing their economy at risk.Countries all over the world continue to suffer the consequences of such regime actions by the elite against minorities. Yes, history does repeat itself.I however fail to understand why the powers that be would want to perpetuate this curse on Namibia, who is currently highly considered.It was once said that evil survives, thrives and breeds successfully when good men fail to do something about it. Perhaps the correct question to be asked, is why would all the good people of Namibia sit idly by and allow NEEEF to be implemented as is?Hypothetically, what would happen should all businesses in Namibia resist NEEEF being implemented by all passive resistance means possible? What will the tax implications be?Are we all going to just sit back and say or do nothing? Why would any international business wish to invest in Namibia with such risk? Do we also want to be joked about like in the old Zimbabwe joke? – Where is Zimbabwe’s capital? In a Swiss bank account.As a proud Namibian, I think not!ALREADY DIFFICULTPlease understand Your Excellency Sir, NEEEF sounds the death knell for all small businesses like mine.All this in a particularly already difficult business environment climate, characterised by soaring electricity and other day to day input costs, scarce skills, a mostly uneducated labour force (let’s face it, education in Namibia as free as it is, is utterly worthless when high school leavers do not know what the term “average percentage” is or what it relates to) and low productivity, persistent wildcat strikes, the current culture of “give me” and general labour unrest.To the 1.9 million Namibians still living in relative poverty – on less than N$3,500.00 a month for a household of at least six – NEEEF will never ever bring benefits such as ownership, management posts, preferential contracts, the development of workplace skills or new business enterprises. What the poor need most of all are jobs, supported by a great education system, and the growth rate needs to reach at least a consistent 7% a year to bring increasing prosperity to all.With consistent growth of 7%, you will double your income every ten years but with a (current) minor growth of 3%, it will take twenty-five or more years to double your income.OTHER OPTIONSInstead of NEEEF, a great standard of education must be implemented, a national minimum wage must be implemented (not the pittance as is currently paid in the case of security officers, domestic workers, construction workers and farmworkers), worker participation at board and / or executive level in business and a desperately needed proper land reform should be the order of the day.GRN should rather identify the real barriers to the advancement of the poor and start removing them. This means, Your Excellency Sir, that you and your administration must embrace fully, the much more difficult tasks of:• Fixing poor education, not just believing because it’s free, it’s of a great standard.• Freeing the labour market from the current excessive regulation.• Building up international competitiveness.• Making Namibia much more attractive to direct investors, both local and foreign (which is of course GRN’s sole duty) when taking into account the tri-nature of industrial relations in Namibia.• Stop excessive public holidays.• Stop the time change every year.• Entrench at and from primary school level a great work ethic.• Ensure that from primary school level, each child understands that hard work is rewarded with achievement on merit.• Ensure (and here, Your Excellency Sir, I congratulate you on your personal efforts) that we stop talking about corruption BUT that those who participate are prosecuted from the top down to the very last corrupt person because they fail our nation pitifully.• Stop letting ordinary citizens believe that they are dependent on GRN and the private sector for hand-outs because if you continue doing this, GRN is cultivating dependent citizens.• Instil in the nation a culture of pride.HARD WORK, HARD WORKYour Excellency Sir, I believe in the potential this great country of ours holds. It needs to be released not harnessed. This is not about race or politics. It is about this great country where we have peace, entrepreneurship, freedom to invest and express great ideals and dreams but more so, where they can become realities.Dividing up the existing economic pie without expanding it will never be enough to meet the needs of a growing population, neither will fostering and culturing a belief that when you have nothing, blame everyone else but yourself. “Free hand-outs” are not the way to achieve anything.Hard work, a great work ethic and the will to achieve can never be underestimated. It is in fact the only way to prosperity.Your Excellency Sir, I therefore appeal directly to you as the head of our great nation and the administration of the day to stop this curse called NEEEF.

Stop this curse called NEEEF (Part 3)

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Republikein 2025-05-01

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Stop this curse called NEEEF (Part 3)

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