EDITORIAL: Time to review affirmative action

During an engagement between Swapo vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and German-speaking Namibians in Windhoek last week, a question was raised as to whether equality initiatives such affirmative action and employment equity are still relevant and fair in our country. In other words, is it time to give everyone the same opportunity to thrive, or must we actively support those who have been consistently deprived of fair and equal treatment in the past – and for how much longer? This was raised amid revelations that an average German-speaking youth does not see themselves thriving in Namibia because the sins of their forefathers have a bearing on their lives today, owing to policies that were adopted to correct the wrongs of the past.

Among the concerns raised was the lack of sunset clauses to these policies, meaning there are no provisions as to when these measures, as noble as they were, would expire.

In truth, these policies have been hijacked to benefit small cliques at the expense of the supposed intended majority. Just like the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) scheme, affirmative action lacks transparency in our country – to the extent that even black people themselves have started to question the pigment of their own skin.

If a policy no longer serves its purpose, we must revise its relevance and necessity. We cannot have hawks grabbing everything under the guise of being black when the majority of their race is languishing in destitution.