EDITORIAL: State-owned, privately captured

The Namibian state must urgently reclaim its public enterprises from the clutches of self-serving actors who now run them like personal fiefdoms.No sooner had the public begun grappling with the stench of the Namcor-Enercon scandal than another bombshell landed: the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) had extended a jaw-dropping N$29 million loan to the same shady Enercon - the epicentre of the fuel-sector corruption storm.We already know Namcor forked out N$53 million to Enercon for phantom assets, with no trace of board approval. That’s not how a state institution behaves - that’s how a hijacked entity behaves. These are not managers of public wealth; they are privateers masquerading as public servants.Then comes DBN’s saga - where court filings allege that August 26, that shadowy military outfit draped in secrecy, pledged surety for Enercon to access N$18 million. In doing so, the tax-paying citizen has been dragged by the collar into a scandal they neither asked for nor deserve.This is not an isolated oversight. It is part of a worrying trend: the systematic abuse of public institutions by those entrusted to lead them.This is organised capture - with state institutions repurposed to serve narrow parochial interests. Governance has been stripped of integrity and replaced with impunity. What we see unraveling in the courtroom and on front pages is likely just the visible tip of a much larger iceberg. Below the surface lies a machinery of greed that has repurposed national institutions for personal gain. This is state capture - not in theory, but in full, alarming practice.The state must not only take back control - it must clean house, draw a red line, and ensure that public enterprises serve their true owners: the Namibian people.

EDITORIAL: State-owned, privately captured

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-26

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EDITORIAL: State-owned, privately captured

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-26

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