By Mathias Haufiku
WINDHOEK – The Namibia National Labour Organisation (Nanlo) has welcomed the tabling of the Pension Funds Amendment Bill in the National Assembly. However, it maintains the move will be meaningless if those in the communal areas cannot use their property as collateral to access finance at commercial banks.
Nanlo President Evilastus Kaaronda made the remarks in reaction to the tabling of the Bill that is under discussion in the National Assembly.
The Bill proposes that the money borrowed from the pension fund be used only “to erect a dwelling on a portion of land” for which the person borrowing money has the Customary Land Right or Right of Leasehold in terms of the Communal Land Reform Act, 2002 or any other applicable legislation, and that such dwelling be occupied by the pension fund member or dependant of the pension fund member.
“For as long as people in rural settings are not allowed to use their homes as collateral when seeking financial assistance from commercial banks, this whole effort will be pointless because our people in rural areas will not be able to draw economic benefits from the homes which they will build with the money borrowed from their pension,” he said.
Kaaronda said commercial banks should not be allowed to ignore African values because most people live in communal areas and they too deserve access to finance like their counterparts in urban areas.
Therefore, by availing money for people in communal areas to build homes, lawmakers would give values to structures in rural areas because without value these structures would remain pointless, he said.
“If this Bill can open the doors for our people in rural settings to build houses and at the same time use their houses to access funds at banks it will go a long way in improving the lives of our people living in communal areas,” he said.
Kaaronda accused government of behaving like it is governing a western society because of the lack of rural economic empowerment initiatives.
“Government has little regard in practical terms as to what goes on in those societies in the urban periphery and subsistence communal areas. I say this because opportunities are not created for these people to make ends meet where they live, thus they have little reason not to come and eke out a living in the urban areas,” he said.
The Bill to amend the Pension Funds Act, 1956, was prompted by the fact that the country is faced with an acute shortage of housing, the high cost of houses and restricted access to finance for home acquisition in communal areas.
Kaaronda urged government to take deliberate steps to force down the “artificial prices of houses” instead of leaving it in the hands of market forces.
“As far as housing is concerned, most people will be able to afford a house if the artificial nature in which the prices of houses are inflated can be curbed. There is also a need to regulate the supply of houses so that it can match the demand and at the same time prevent those with the means from stifling supply and subsequently push up house prices,” he said.
Kaaronda also accused some senior government officials of causing land prices to skyrocket.
“Some officials in cabinet are the very same guys who own blocks of flats and shopping malls in the suburbs and these in turn push up the prices of adjacent plots. There must be regulations to ensure that the erection of such buildings do not affect the prices of land in its proximity because it then means that the person who wishes to buy the adjacent plots must pay double the price which they were supposed to pay. People end up paying for the improvements made on the surrounding plots instead of paying for the plot they are buying,” said Kaaronda.
Since the parliamentarians’ asset register has not been completed since 2009, it makes it difficult for the public to scrutinize what their leaders own to ensure that there is no conflict of interest in lawmaking.