Will our trajectory as a semi-socialist and semi-capitalist [mixed] economy return to its moral course? I would like to believe that our society experienced a technological shock at some point when the internet gained global traction. Its ineffective and inefficient utilisation across various industries to drive development, combined with chronic underinvestment in technology and innovation, speaks volumes.
The world’s sudden pivot toward advanced technology may have contributed to our developmental challenges, distracting a small nation like Namibia, still sluggishly addressing national issues unique to itself. While we’re still contemplating how to use advanced intelligence to advance industrial objectives and policy, the world is moving, leaving us behind.
We are witnessing a reshuffling of the country’s administrative functions, and with that, bones are falling out of ministerial and institutional closets. Commander-in-Chief President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has decided to leave no stone unturned. I won’t dwell on the financial metrics plundered by the corrupt elite, as we may already be familiar with the shocking numbers. Instead, my focus is on this question: Will the a priori, intangible, and abstract forces of our society, justice, fairness, and freedom, converge, be understood by all, and translate into national policies that empower the people under this new sheriff in town? What might this mean for Namibia’s socio-psychological domain?
The world’s supersonic boom has thrown developing countries like Namibia off course, especially given the nature of our socio-economic and geopolitical landscape. The world is moving too fast, and as we try to keep pace, we are stumbling. Bureaucratic shocks, bottlenecks, under- or overspending, mismanagement, and misallocation of resources are just some of the issues highlighted in recent audit reports of public institutions.
As a journalist for the past two and a half years, my job has been to scrutinise how our society operates: how the government allocates resources to meet citizens’ needs and how activists, holding posters, besiege government offices to lobby for better services and more resources because the supply is simply not enough. I’ve seen the informal retailer packing vegetables day in and day out at a street corner stall in Khomasdal 28, beside Ella Du Plessis Primary School, while capitalistic corporations close billion-dollar deals in the city centre.
I’ve become aware of how the middle and lower classes work tirelessly, only to get nowhere financially, plagued by low wages, excessive workloads, and limited in-house training. Meanwhile, as we’ve seen, predatory looters sit atop the food chain, consuming all they can. At least, with our limited understanding, we know where the hairdresser’s subsidies in Katutura went. We know where the loans meant for farmers, street vendors, and graduates ended up. But my question remains: Will the nation inherited from our brave, fallen soldiers, may their souls rest in peace, return to its moral course while abandoning the “all-you-can-eat buffet when you get the position” attitude? As a friend once said, the masses have been strangled by poverty for too long, and the world is moving swiftly; we are all just in survival mode.
Namibia’s agrarian society predates colonisation, though its history is rarely taught in depth in schools. It is marked by the deeds of Lothar Von Trotha and his soldiers, who hanged the bodies of our people on our own trees, in our own land. Yet, before the colonisers arrived, there was peace in small-scale trade and development.
Let us agree that the laws we inherited from our colonisers and elsewhere have nothing to do with the radical, selfish attitudes spreading across our industries, attitudes that, like piranhas, promote greed and pleasure. Of course, the law is flawed and riddled with loopholes, which fosters corruption. Our ideal aspirations, especially as we recover from colonial wounds, have been hampered by the economic decline our nation has faced for nearly half a decade, worsened by the aftermath of COVID-19.
But this is nothing new: the rich get richer, and the poor remain poor. As the Christian proverb puts it:
“Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” Our society is structured this way: a mixed economy with thriving capitalists, while the dependent socialists wait for government support. It’s a good model for Namibia, given our abundant resources that could benefit the masses, but it is tainted and controlled by corruption.
Abraham Lincoln put it well: “Well, I cannot run the political machine; I have enough on my hands without that. It is the people’s business; the election is in their hands. If they turn their backs to the fire and get scorched in the rear, they’ll find they have got to ‘sit’ on the ‘blister’.” But this time, the people have spoken, and so far, they have spoken wisely.
Can capitalists be socialists? Bureaucracy has shaped our leadership and management tools, but it has also hindered development. It provides structure and strategy, responsibility and clarity. However, on the downside, it enables looters to escape with millions, slows investigative journalism, and alienates society from morality. It stifles creativity and innovation. We know this.
At a recent technology forum, it was disheartening to see young, eager, passionate, and innovative individuals, full of potential, learning about Namibia’s technological opportunities, yet lacking the facilities or data centres to lead the sector and implement their ideas.
In this regard, I acknowledge the progress and integration of artificial intelligence and other technologies in our judicial, financial, and commercial sectors, which have improved efficiency, connectivity, and service delivery. We are doing well as Namibia, but a few critical issues remain before we can become a truly functional, democratic, socialist-capitalist nation. Will a redefinition of policies, especially people-centred ones, help rebuild our fractured society?
We should begin by slowing down policy implementation. Although we have much to cover, developing additional policies while previous ones remain unimplemented causes bureaucratic shocks. This hampers its execution because the most vital resource, the human resource, is inadequately prepared for these policies. It is burdensome for them, and they are overwhelmed. We are competing with markets that are over 500 years old, while we are only 35. Slowing the market to our pace and ensuring all elements align could help us move past the policies gathering dust and build the necessary human skills.
There’s a theory in strategic management, developed by David Teece, Gary Pisano, and Amy Shuen. It suggests that organisations can respond effectively to dynamic and evolving environments by strategically managing their resources and capabilities. This involves constructing, integrating, and reconfiguring their resource portfolio. We must do the same. Yes, too many cooks spoil the broth, but in the clutter, we fail to see real solutions: people-centred, development-focused, sustainable, and realistic. Resources are the greatest competitive advantage of any organisation, yet their underutilisation and misuse render these rare, irreplaceable, and irreplicable assets ineffective.
Meanwhile, morality has been disenchanted from politics and society's fragments, and technology has only deepened this divide. This element is the most important in social dynamics, as it guides decision-making and balances interests by dividing the pie and encouraging everyone to take a piece, leaving enough for others to partake.
Postmodernist thought encourages us to base belief on empirical data, rather than on abstract knowledge that stems from intuition or spiritual sources. Yet, our past was shaped by the interaction between the divine and individuals who, guided by this a priori wisdom, led others with vision and purpose. Today, if the numbers don’t add up and if words aren’t supported by statistical data, they’re dismissed as unreliable. However, the integration of innate, intuitive knowledge with empirical data will certainly enrich the epistemological foundation of our nation, particularly in the domains of leadership and policy development.
 |
| Photo: Contributed |