Pendapala Hangala
I promise to uphold, respect and defend the constitution of the Republic of Namibia for the benefit, wellbeing and welfare of the current and future generations.
And that’s what he promised on the 21st of March 2015. And with such commitments and great powers bestowed upon him, a greater patriotic responsibility is expected from him by the masses that he ensures that the nation’s natural economic resources, in particular the entire marine resources, are managed prudently, responsibly and fairly for their benefit and welfare.
And to suddenly think of fully auctioning off the country’s entire marine resources to the highest bidder is extremely way off the mark, highly unpatriotic, grossly inconsiderate and very regressive to the economic aspirations of a nation that intends to one day industrialise, amongst others. And I further don’t think in earnest that it’s a good idea at all to in this particular way strive to raise funds for the government as it’s extremely short-sighted, to say the least.
In hindsight and especially going forward, I’m beginning to think that some of our leaders have seriously forgotten that a lot of people literally fought and many died for the liberation of this country so that the current and future generations can truly and responsibly enjoy what God has bestowed upon them.
And to simply just decide to auction off 100% of the nation’s marine resources to the highest bidder completely defeats that liberation struggle’s intent, inclusive of its aspirations to one day become an industrialised country amongst others.
It means that all that effort, blood, sweat and tears could in a blink of an eye go to waste if this unpatriotic idea is left unchallenged. In retrospect, especially before independence, the Namibian fishing sector was but one of the key major economic sectors that were grossly abused by the former apartheid regime, in partnership with unscrupulous Spanish fish merchants of whom up to this day a few still hold a significant influence and presence in the industry.
The sector, however, had post-independence strived in various ways, albeit at a very slow pace, to Namibianise through various value- addition initiatives such as fish product sorting, packaging, branding and distribution, amongst others.
In light of that, the fishing industry has since then employed thousands of Namibians, inclusive of many more indigenous people who now hold significant shareholding in it.
The fishing industry in its transformative years of between 2012 and 2019, through an illegal initiative called ‘Governmental Objectives’, was then grossly abused through ulterior political motives of giving too much powers to the now jailed former Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, who seemed to have been used by or in conjunction with powerful players for short- term political and economic self-gain.
That particular aspect can for the benefit of the entire nation still be reversed to ensure that a fairer and more equitable redistribution and development of the nation’s marine resources are geared towards the welfare and greater benefit of current and future generations.
The advent of Covid-19 in late 2019 into 2020/21 then presented the Namibian government with a blanket opportunity to experiment with the concept of auctioning off key marine species to the highest bidder, which apparently was to directly raise funds to combat the emerging virus.
This loophole is now being further exploited to advocate for the wholesale amendment of the Marine Resources Act of 2014 for all of the country’s marine resources to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
This misguided intention in its current format is extremely dangerous, very short-sighted, highly inconsiderate, very misinformed and certainly economically regressive, to say the least.
A formidable and substantial economic sector or any sector such as the fishing sector can never and will never be built through auctions, as speculators by nature are never investors but greedy off-takers who simply abuse and take what’s paid for to their homelands whilst the receiver simply walks away with short-term happiness with no significant direct benefit to the true owners of the resource.
This idea is bound to dismally fail and further destroy an emerging fishing sector. The fishing industry currently generates more than N$10 billion per annum for the country, employs thousands of Namibians, contributes significantly to the fiscus in terms of various types of taxes, and any significant attempt to overnight completely auction it off to the highest bidder could reverse all its gains.
The Namibian government should rather, in consultation with the fishing industry’s key stakeholders, seek ways and means within the current Marine Resources Act in such a way that it optimises in increasing the revenue generation potential of the sector, that it should employ more Namibians, especially through value addition, and that fishing companies and associates should significantly increase their corporate social responsibilities towards more Namibian societies and communities, amongst others.
Anything else, as especially intended, will to the contrary be more catastrophic, to say the least.
* Pendapala Hangala writes as a modern-day nationalist.