Competition from Swapo bus service causes uproar

The Namibia Bus and Taxi Association (Nabta) is aggrieved at the Swapo Party-owned bus service Namib Contract Haulage’s (NCH) entry into the market and the low fares it plans to charge.This follows complaints by the association’s members that the company’s behaviour is uncompetitive and threatens operators in the industry.Nabta secretary-general Pendapala Nakathingo said his office had been inundated with complaints about the bus service.“NCH has the intention to reduce the current official and standard bus fares as set by Nabta and is likely to cause chaos due to unfair competition against individual bus operators whom are already struggling to sustain their business due to fuel increases, illegal transportation and other commodities,” he said.One-time offer a problemThe promotion of NCH’s ‘One-Time Travel Offer to the South’ campaign, which lists Mariental, Keetmanshoop, Grunau, Noordoewer and Aussenkehr as destinations, exhibits uncompetitive behaviour, Nakathingo said.NCH plans to charge N$80 to Mariental, compared to the stipulated N$170; N$130 to Keetmanshoop (compared to Nabta’s N$240); N$180 to Grunau (N$240); N$200 to Noordoewer (N$450) and N$230 to Aussenkehr (N$450).“These is some of the unfair competition prohibited by law and requires the full protection of the small business to grow. Such practice is one of the things that angered some members to turn against the Swapo Party government.”‘We will turn against Swapo’Nakathingo said it was not fair to expect some Nabta members to pay membership fees to both the association and Swapo while they were made to unfairly compete against NCH.“Nabta has also reminded NCH that some bus operators are also members of the Swapo Party that co-owns NCH through Kalahari Group Holdings. It is therefore not correct to bring unfair competition against members who pay their party contributions, robbing them of their small earnings through the transportation business.”“We therefore urge NCH to halt such practices as urgently as possible. Otherwise, members have indicated their readiness to take action through Nabta to make sure that their rights to a protected business - as guided by law - are fully respected,” the secretary-general said.NCH manager Freddy Kamati failed to respond to queries about the matter.

Competition from Swapo bus service causes uproar

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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Competition from Swapo bus service causes uproar

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-18

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