Opinions

Jeronimo Kateya 1. Introduction: The Call and The Context   In her 11 September 2026 reflection with the New Era, Kahungu stated that “Namibia must increase its population before it develops” because “for business to prosper you need a big number of customers” (Jason, 2026). She is correct that Namibia’s three million people across 824,292 km² presents a developmental challenge (NSA, 2023). Conversely, it is of paramount importance that, with supreme logic, sequence matters. In the 1920s-80s, Namibian parents relied on communal land, Mahangu fields, cattle, and goats. Today, climate change and urban migration have pushed millions of youth to cities…

Diana Ndeshihala Hainana In Namibia, discussions about foreign investment increasingly begin with the nationality of the investor rather than with the quality of the investment. There is understandable concern among some Namibians about increasing foreign involvement in important sectors of our economy. Chinese investment is sometimes viewed through concerns about labour practices, resource extraction and economic dominance. Similar anxieties arise when American or other international interests become increasingly prominent in strategic industries. These concerns about foreign investment should not become hostility towards foreign investment itself. Namibia’s history gives us every reason to care deeply about sovereignty, ownership and who ultimately…

Esther Shakela During the 20th century, there lived in Colombia a man called Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria who, upon discovering the profitability of cocaine, entered the trafficking fray and soon established himself as one of the most notorious drug lords in modern history. The legacy of Pablo Escobar remains contested to date, with some viewing him as a ruthless criminal whose operations negatively impacted thousands of lives, while others, particularly in his country, regard him as a legend of Robin Hood proportions. The latter group's sentiment towards Escobar can be understood through the acts of service he carried out for…

Malcolm Kambanzera I recently resigned from a board three months into my appointment because the shareholders wanted to make governance decisions and operational decisions at the same time. We were basically just puppets. Nonetheless, the main issue is: when everyone is responsible, no one is accountable. The governance cost of blurred mandates. One of the most interesting things about governance is that organisations can have all the right structures on paper and still get governance completely wrong in practice. There is a board. There is management. There are committees, delegations, and reporting lines. In a private company, there are shareholders.…

There are photographs that capture a moment, and then there are photographs that capture a possibility. The image of electric buses from Kenya and Ethiopia meeting at the Moyale border is, to me, one of the latter. At first glance, it is simply two modern buses at a border post. But look again. There is something much bigger happening in that photograph. It is a picture of African enterprise, African ambition and African technology beginning to move across the borders we have inherited. A Kenyan electric bus has travelled north from Nairobi. An Ethiopian electric bus has emerged from a…

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro It is a hard and undeniable fact and truth that Namibia, since independence, when she is supposed to have gotten rid of colonialism, is still very much under colonial rule 36 years after political and/or flag independence. Call it what you may wish to call it, whether neo-colonialism, globalism, bilateralism, and/or multilateralism, the line between all of them has never been thinner than Namibia and her leaders, let alone the masses, including the working class, would wish to admit. Take and make your pick between and among all of them, but in one way or another, all are…

Shatyohamba Haihambo As a bar owner, employer and taxpayer, I understand both sides of the debate around the proposed amendments to Namibia’s Tobacco Products Control Act. For years, businesses like mine have legally sold products such as vapes, refills and hookah as part of a broader hospitality offering. These products generate income, attract customers and, importantly, create jobs for bartenders, waiters, cashiers, cleaners and suppliers. At a time when unemployment remains one of Namibia’s biggest challenges, any policy that affects small businesses deserves careful consideration. At the same time, I am deeply concerned by reports of vaping and nicotine products…

Paul T. Shipale (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) On 16 December 1994, Namibia was still a young republic, barely four years into independence, facing the enormous task of transforming political freedom into a functioning nation. The establishment of the National Planning Commission during that formative period therefore represented more than the creation of another government institution. It reflected a fundamental philosophy of the founding generation that independence had to be followed by deliberate national development. The concern was no longer simply how to govern Namibia but it was how to build Namibia. That distinction matters today. More than…

Mufaro Nesongano Leadership is ultimately tested not by how long a person remains in office, but by what remains when that person leaves.  That test is visible in three seemingly different stories. The first is Apple’s planned leadership transition from Tim Cook to John Ternus after Cook’s 15-year tenure as chief executive officer. The second is the leadership legacy of Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015), Singapore’s first Prime Minister and founding father of modern Singapore.  The third is the continuing debate about the tenure of CEOs and managing directors in Namibia. Taken together, these examples show that leadership is not merely…

Lazarus Kwedhi Namibians did not stand in long queues in November 2024 to watch Members of Parliament shout at each other. We did not vote to create “chaos, disruption and delay in passing bills”. We voted because 34 years of automatic two-thirds majority rule failed to deliver the central promise of the liberation struggle and independence: that no Namibian would be poor, that education and health would be free, and that land would be returned to its rightful owners. Today, the 8th Parliament looks messy. Bills are delayed. There are points of order, removals, walkouts and contestation. The ruling party…