RP to abolish affirmative action, reform BEE

The Republican Party (RP) says Namibia’s government is littered with incompetent officials, while the party sees its manifesto is a panacea to the country’s socioeconomic challenges.

The party raised eyebrows with its intention to abolish any form of affirmative action (AA) because “it is no secret that the ruling party is hiding behind AA policies to employ their own comrades and friends in positions for which they are not qualified”.

“The result is a government littered with employees who are totally incompetent, with the result that in many - if not all - ministries and state-owned enterprises, there is very little evidence of quality service delivery. It has only opened the door for large-scale corruption,” the party’s recently released manifesto stated.

An RP government will not allow any form of discrimination and will treat every Namibian purely on merit, it said. "We will do whatever is necessary to have the AA policy abolished as soon as possible."

The party said while it welcomes the economic empowerment of previously disadvantaged Namibians, this should not be done to the detriment of direct foreign investment. “The concept of Black Economic Empowerment [BEE] was supposed to be a vehicle to economically empower previously disadvantaged Namibians, but it has been proven to be deficient and elitist. The current BEE scheme did not seek to reduce poverty or to distribute resources equally among the economically disenfranchised sector of the Namibian society, but was an economic strategy aimed at creating a black capitalist class, not an anticipated black egalitarian society,” the manifesto read.



Protecting our resources

The party intends to nationalise the fishing industry and all mines in the country if elected to lead, it said.

According to RP, since independence, Namibia has been robbed of billions of dollars by multinational companies and entities who solely benefitted from our natural resources with minimum income for the government.

“Such operations [fisheries and mining] will be conducted through a tender process, which will result in the Namibian government maximising the income from such resources,” the party said.

In order to protect Namibia's fish, the party said it will “put in place legislation to protect and recover our fish resources over a period of two years, which will include no fishing vessels and no commercial fishing allowed in Namibian waters”.

“The RP will not allow any international factory ships to operate in Namibian waters and will ensure that all catches are processed on Namibian soil,” it stated, adding that it will regulate the uncontrolled influx of Chinese and other foreigners who are not contributing to skills transfer and the capacity-building of Namibians.

Currently boasting two seats in the National Assembly, the party seeks to change the constitution in a process it said will strengthen democratic participation. “One constitutional change the RP will promote is for the dissolvement of regional councils and for the National Council to be constituted with two representatives from each region. These representatives are to be elected in a National Council election where nominations will be submitted by regions and the two candidates with the most votes will be elected."