EDITORIAL: Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs

Namibia needs to have an uncomfortable conversation about unemployment – and it cannot afford to ignore the warning that the very businesses expected to create jobs are disappearing.

The Namibian Employers’ Federation’s concern about the shrinking employer base should alarm policymakers. At a time when unemployment remains one of the country’s biggest challenges, it is deeply troubling that the pool of employers is getting smaller.

The obvious contradiction is that we need more jobs, yet we appear to be losing the businesses that create them.

It is therefore unrealistic to expect an increasingly small number of employers to carry the weight of solving a national unemployment crisis. Businesses cannot employ people they cannot afford. They cannot expand indefinitely when they face high operating costs, regulatory burdens, weak demand, limited access to finance and policy uncertainty.

And when businesses close, the damage does not stop with the owner. Employees lose their livelihoods. Suppliers lose customers. Government loses tax revenue. Families lose income. Communities lose economic activity.

This is why government must be extremely careful about policies that impose additional burdens on employers in the name of addressing unemployment.

Of course, businesses have responsibilities. Workers must be treated fairly, labour laws must be respected and exploitation cannot be tolerated.

But there is no job to protect if the business providing it no longer exists. Government's role should therefore be to create an environment in which businesses can survive, grow and employ sustainably.

Namibia's emerging opportunities in mining, oil and gas, green hydrogen and other sectors will mean little to ordinary Namibians if the domestic business ecosystem continues to weaken. We therefore need to change the question. Instead of asking only how many jobs businesses can create, government must ask what it can do to ensure that more businesses survive, expand and employ.