By Mbatjiua Ngavirue
Windhoek
Telecom Chairperson Titus Haimbili, who has become a champion of Black Economic Empowerment, on Wednesday said the most daunting task faced by the current political and business leadership is to create much needed jobs.
Haimbili, whose views are sometimes provocative, often controversial but seldom dull, delivered a hard-hitting speech at the launch of Telecom’s new BEE procurement policy this week.
White Namibians need to acknowledge and come to terms with the fact that wrongs took place, which calls for immediate corrective action.
It is therefore important for the minority to find ways to form partnerships with value-adding partners from the black majority.
The black majority would bring political capital and a hierarchy of imagination, with the minority counterparts bringing capital, know-how and a hierarchy of experience – a perfect match for an “economic empowerment marriage”.
Another concern being widely discussed in the country is the emergence of a black elite as opposed to broad-based empowerment.
“Please be assured that in every developing society, there will be ‘pace setters’ whether you call them elite or otherwise.
“It is advisable, however, not to resent the few that have succeeded, but rather to encourage them [to think] that while basking in the sun of their accelerated or suddenly found wealth, they must not forget their roots,” he suggested.
By being greedy and embarking on fictitious ventures, purposely created with the intention to fail, they deprive serious entrepreneurs of much-needed opportunities.
He says they should rather cultivate a genuine sense of patriotism, embarking on greater risks in major businesses that create job opportunities for the previously disadvantaged majority.
He notes that since the early 90s, government has created a number of new parastatals in order to create jobs.
As the sole shareholder, government could create job opportunities to benefit the majority of Namibians. Some parastatals have become profitable and sustainable, while others are still crawling or limping.
However, for these initiatives to succeed, the political leadership needs to spearhead the effort in conjunction with the private sector to develop an inclusive agenda of economic empowerment and development.
“The beneficiaries of the empowerment initiatives, on the other hand, need to rid themselves of the notion of entitlement,” he cautioned.
Many economists and private sector businesspeople would however challenge Haimbili’s premise that parastatals create jobs, arguing they use resources inefficiently and are therefore “job destroyers” rather than “job creators”.
Haimbili went on to say people often make unqualified remarks such as “yes, we have voted for them and elected them into power, they must provide everything whilst we sit on our laurels”.
“There is a saying that goes, that if you want milk, you don’t sit on a stool in the middle of a field and hope and pray that a cow will come walking up to you and offer herself to be milked,” he warned.
At Telecom Namibia, they firmly believe that BEE could and would work.
“We believe that a society characterised by wealth disparities along racial lines is not likely to be socially and politically stable, particularly as economic growth can easily exacerbate these inequalities,” he said.
The company further believes that as problems of social and economic inequality are largely man-made, so too are the solutions, for truly “man is not the slave of circumstance”.
He re-stated that BEE is a shared endeavour, and that what everyone is trying to achieve is difficult. However, even with the few mistakes people are making, they would eventually get it right.
“In our country today, our minority counterpart’s greatest fear about empowerment is that they will be sacrificed for the sins of their forefathers.
“You will agree with me that Namibians are a peace-loving people and instead of being held hostage by history, they have opted for reconciliation and unity of purpose, because it is a fact that we cannot change the past??????’??