It was with fervent hope that Namibian people waged the struggle against apartheid and that the post-apartheid era would come with the eradication of poverty, inequality and unemployment in the country.
Three decades into our new socio-political and economic dispensation, it is evident that the poverty cycle, inequality and unemployment have become worse, triggering youth protests against unemployment.
It is doubt at all that the legacy of colonialism and apartheid runs very deep and wide, but can we blame these legacies after three decades of being in charge of our destiny?
Namibia’s economy is like the economy of many other third-world nations, it can be described within the context of the global economy. Poverty and inequality have many faces and the majority of Namibians are affected by poverty in various ways, or confronted with ongoing vulnerability driving them to poverty.
Before the era of colonialism, the values of the African family in particular that of Namibia were sharing, mutual support and bartering. Then came colonialism, and discrimination based on racial capitalism, which destroyed much of the previous ethos.
All this is key to understanding the particular nature of poverty in a democratic Namibia, and its overwhelming occurrence among certain groups.
Our past has been shaped by socioeconomic injustice.
The interest of the few has been served best by creating structures to keep many in abject poverty despite creating a wealthy black empowerment scheme.
Our future viability as a nation depends largely on meeting the basic needs of millions of poor people, while simultaneously safeguarding our country’s scarce resources.
Nelson Mandela was also against poverty, saying “it is manmade and thus can be undone by those in power, provided they have the will and courage to commit state resources to promote people’s livelihood.”
Namibian resources are more than enough to cater for every citizen of this country yet despite this we have the population living in extreme poverty, whereby statistically 43% of the population is affected by multidimensional poverty of which 59% is in rural and 25% in urban areas.
Legislation has in the past discriminated against women in terms of education and economic opportunities, and culture continues to do this.
The majority of women remain on the margins of society economically.
The percentage of Namibia’s national income that goes to company profits continues to grow, while the percentage going to wages continues to fall, as factories and mines close down and the pool of unemployment grows.
Many who once had full employment with benefits such as pension, medical and adequate housing have had their employment status converted to that of casual, temporary part-time workers or lose it, amounting to the already elevated number of unemployment and poverty cycle the challenge of this phenomenon must become the starting points because it based on the lived reality.
The question, remain whether we are collectively and fully engaged as we should be in the contemporary struggle against this societal evil of inequality and unemployment, which are the core factors of poverty in any given society. Poverty is spoken of as a phenomenon of our time as though it were tolerable.
But it is not. It is not tolerable to live constantly in fear.
It is intolerable to have to grovel to others for help through no fault of one’s own.
Poverty is just tolerable when it is general and shared.
It is intolerable when it is experienced in an economy that can pay one person a salary of N$2.5 million per year, where food is thrown away and people get such from over-eating.
The commitment to turn around the economic and political fortunes of Namibia into a miracle – and therefore a blessing to the people – is an ideal to which we must all aspire.
According to the late archbishop emeritus, Desmond Tutu, “We must continue to take the side of those who are marginalised, to publicise their plight and support their cause…
We also need to be as vibrant under a democratic dispensation as we have done during the years of apartheid”.
*Reverend Jan A Scholtz is the former chairperson of //Kharas Regional Council and former !Nami#nus constituency councillor. He holds a Diploma in Theology, B-Theo (SA), a Diploma in Youth Work and Development from the University of Zambia (UNZA), as well as a Diploma in Education III (KOK) BA (HED) from UNISA.