NEEEF will increase racial tension

Vice-President Nickey Iyambo told commercial farmers that the New Equitable Economic Empowerment Framework (NEEEF) is not yet a law but a draft that is still being developed.

He was speaking yesterday at the Agri-Outlook Conference hosted by the Namibian Agricultural Union (NAU).

Iyambo said statements are already being made as if NEEEF is already a law that is being enforced, but consultations are still ongoing.

He said NEEEF is an idea that is being developed and if someone else comes up with a better idea they should suggest and that is why consultations are taking place.

“This is a discussion paper and I think it is fair, rather than just putting something before parliament and enforcing it,” he added.

He added that it is quite clear that for 26 years there has been peace in Namibia, but added that the economic outlook also has to be inclusive.

The NEEEF formed part of the discussions at the NAU congress that was held this week.

The president of the NAU, Ryno van der Merwe, said in his presidential overview that the NEEEF document came as a big surprise as there were no prior consultations between government and the private sector.

He said the aim of the initiative is to share wealth as part of the process to alleviate poverty and promote equality in the economy.

“Unfortunately this policy and draft legislation has a tendency where the wealth of previously advantaged persons must be shared with previously disadvantaged persons without taking the full implications thereof into consideration.”

He said according to the NAU this will not serve the objective to reach the masses, but only further the enrichment of a small group of previously disadvantaged persons.

The NAU said in its annual report that the general view is that this policy framework is totally inappropriate 26 years after independence in a stable multi-cultural Namibia.

“It wants to regulate the economy according to race and sex and it creates the impression that no transformation has taken place in the past 26 years. This policy framework, which is based on the affirmative action legislation of South Africa, will damage the economy and increase unemployment. This new discrimination of race and sex will increase racial division and racial tension as can be seen clearly in our neighbouring country.”

The NAU submitted comments on the NEEEF to the office of the prime minister earlier this year.

According to the union, the debated policy framework and proposed legislation about NEEEF has not only been criticised about its shortages, but some recommendations were also made on how the objective of the NEEEF can be reached.

The NAU’s submission was mainly about the possibility that the objectives of NEEEF could be reached through existing instruments such as policies, legislation and programmes without drafting a new Act.

The NAU said it will maintain this view point and will also make proposals to prevent that NEEEF will have a negative impact on the agricultural sector and specifically the commercial farmers.

It said that the basis of the NAU was that there should rather be a focus on the growth of the economy to alleviate poverty and bring about better equality between poor and rich than to expect that previous advantaged people give 25% of their business to previous disadvantaged people. Numerous recommendations were made about what could be done to bring about faster economic growth.

Secondly, the NAU says that there are already numerous policies and programmes which could be used to reach the objectives of NEEEF. The NAU recommended that the streamlining of these policies should get attention rather than to create a massive bureaucracy to administer NEEEF.

Thirdly, it recommended that an inclusive consultation process with relevant and affected persons and groups should be followed to accommodate the objectives of NEEEF within existing policies and programmes.

ELLANIE SMIT