The Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) has raised concerns over the free market economy, saying it was denying Namibians fair access to common markets due to presence and competition from foreigners. A free market is an economic system based on supply and demand with little or no government control. Based on its political and legal rules, a country›s free-market economy may range between very large or entirely black market.
NEFF leader Epafras Mukwiilongo, who was contributing to the budget debate last week, suggested open markets at prominent places should only be limited to Namibian traders in the form of an indigenisation approach.
“We cannot have Chinese selling fresh produce or shoes or drive taxis and cut hair, which Namibians can do and most especially in open markets from which our people are expected to operate from,” he said.
“When you go to Spar or Shoprite, you will notice the labels ‘imported’ on fresh produce while we have farmers with rotting produce because AMTA (Agro-Marketing and Trade Agency) is not doing enough to ensure that small farmers penetrate these markets.”
Mukwiilongo proposed to the Ministry of Trade and Industrialisation to create trading areas to limit the influence of foreign-owned businesses.
The opposition politician also took issue with AMTA, the agency responsible for the management of fresh produce hubs and the national strategic food reserve facilities.
“AMTA’s requirements for farmers to qualify to be added to their database is disadvantaging most emerging and small farmers who have diversified their activities into crop production in the communal and affirmative action group,” he said.
“The checklist to qualify onto the AMTA list is extremely difficult for any farmer in this class to qualify and only caters for well-established commercial farmers; it was our hope that this budget would have addressed some of these
shortcomings.”