Namandje urges renewed fight for 'real advancement of blacks'

Lawyer Sisa Namandje has renewed calls for aggressive economic transformation policies, arguing that Namibia has failed to create meaningful opportunities for historically disadvantaged citizens despite constitutional provisions allowing targeted redress.

Speaking at the inaugural John Akapandi Endjala Memorial Lecture in Windhoek on Thursday, Namandje paid tribute to the late businessman and empowerment advocate while delivering a sharp critique of the country's post-independence economic record.

"Let's admit it: not much has happened. This is exactly why there remains a deep happiness deficit among black people in Namibia," he said.

Namandje painted a bleak picture of the socio-economic realities facing many black Namibians, saying poverty continues to affect entire communities and families, including those who have achieved financial success.

In one of the speech's most pointed remarks, he said: "Let's be frank and blunt: Black poverty is both vicarious and contagious. It affects and reaches out to every black."

Namandje said Endjala dedicated his life to advancing black economic empowerment and believed social justice could not be achieved without deliberate interventions.

"Akapandi fervently recognised that those who were socially and economically disadvantaged and ostracised by the brutal apartheid system would not be able to have social justice and dignified lives in the absence of a radical and aggressive state-driven economic transformation agenda," he said.

Slow pace of empowerment

Central to Namandje’s address was the argument that Namibia has not fully utilised Article 23(2) of the Constitution, which permits parliament to enact laws and the government to implement programmes aimed at advancing people who were disadvantaged by apartheid.

"What has since been done? Where are the direct and indirect laws providing for real advancement of black people in our country, something that is perfectly constitutional?" he asked.

He argued that successful black professionals and businesspeople often shoulder the financial burden of supporting extended family members and struggling community members. "It is the continuous and daily requests for donations to bury loved ones, daily requests to pay school fees for others, and daily requests to buy basic food for others that make black success illusory and futile," he said.

Inspired to fight

Namandje warned that persistent poverty continues to fuel the rise of mental health challenges. "It is now 37 years since our dance for freedom. We are very far from enabling our citizens – especially blacks – to pursue a life of happiness," he said.

"Instead, poverty-induced mental distress is now a very serious health risk and, more alarmingly, suicides are on the rise in figures not seen before."

He urged policymakers to pursue stronger economic empowerment measures and said that Endjala's legacy should inspire renewed efforts to advance black Namibians' economic empowerment.

"When we continue remembering the life of Akapandi for years to come, we must be inspired to fight for the real advancement of blacks," Namandje said.

"It is time that in all our actions we work as much as we can to advance blacks. It is constitutionally authorised."