Martin Endjala
The Landless People’s Movement Party’s (LPM) leader, Bernadus Swartbooi, said that the much-criticised Redforce Debt Management Company (RedForce) should not be blamed for doing its job.
He argued that the local authorities should bear the responsibility for their ineffective revenue collection.
Swartbooi made this statement at a press conference earlier this month in response to increases in electricity and water prices.
“We must ask the question: why have local authorities, post-independence, had reduced capacity for revenue collection? This is because the funding to local authorities has decreased. It is because that funding went down that the local authorities could not employ the scale of people necessary for revenue collection. That is what happened,” said Swartbooi.
According to Swartbooi, RedForce has never taken advantage of anyone or acted beyond the scope of the mandate given by the principal client, which in this case was the local authority.
“I know in Walvis Bay there are other dynamics and so on and so forth, but I thought I must make this comment about RedForce and others because everything that local authorities do is criticised by societies and the central government, yet the central government does very little to help the local authorities do a better job,” he argued.
He is of the opinion that the government should prioritise supporting local authorities in housing development, street improvement, and water supply.
Swartbooi pointed out that there were noticeable differences in the collection ratios between when local authorities handled collections themselves and when RedForce was involved.
He argued that RedForce diligently pursued the local authorities’ mandate to collect money and followed their instructions accordingly.
“If the local authorities wanted RedForce to take a softer approach, they should have communicated that. Suddenly, everyone is fighting against RedForce. RedForce is a company led by intelligent individuals who saw a market opportunity and decided to provide their services in order to make money. What is the problem?” Swartbooi stated.
He maintained that RedForce is effectively resolving the situation at a cost and with great efficiency, acknowledging that money is now being collected and arguing that RedForce is being unfairly scapegoated.
Swartbooi mentioned that he had seen a report from RedForce recommending that the City of Windhoek write off debts for the elderly and others, as it was unlikely that the city would be able to collect those debts. He questioned why RedForce became involved in this matter.
“There were these people who were criticising the RedForce. I have seen a report by RedForce wherein they were recommending to the City of Windhoek the writing off of debt for the elderly and so on. They were saying that by every metric, this city will never collect any of those debts because it just messes with the books and spoils the balance of the city. But why did RedForce come into this?” he said.
Swartbooi believes that RedForce is a savvy business entity that identified an opportunity in the market where local authorities were struggling to collect revenue.
Katutura Residents Committee (KRC) spokesperson Shaun Gariseb was quick to brush off Swartbooi’s statement, labelling it as an attack on KRC.
“We took note of these rather surprising assertions; he also said he saw a report by Redforce recommending the write-off. That’s the most audacious justification I have seen in defence of a funder (it seems they are funded by RedForce because the man was just having good things to say about RedForce) and bad things to say about activists and his fellow politicians,” he argued.
Gariseb claimed that LPM politicises their achievements and feels threatened by their stature.
Gariseb is disappointed in Swartbooi, but he believes that Swartbooi was talking about conjecture.
“There’s no surprise that they defend RedForce. But they don’t understand the bone of contention, which is how this debt collector was appointed without a resolution, and it’s there at the ACC from internal auditors. It seemed they just decided to have a go at us, we did nothing to them. All we do is stand up for ourselves,” argued Gariseb.
He explained that debt collection can be done by avoiding debt accumulation, and for local authorities, it’s better to capacitate internal debt management than outsource those functions.
“RedForce is an effective debt collector, but in Windhoek, Walvis Bay, Katima Mulilo and Okahandja, their appointment is illegal and shall be proven soonest. I wonder what those beneficiaries who defend Redforce from within the council will say then,” he said.
He further questions why local authorities refuse to show them the resolution if there’s nothing untoward.
