Hage: NEEEF a bad ideaThe president’s apparent backpedalling on the proposed black economic empowerment legislation is causing confusion over government’s stance thereon. President says ‘fair play’ is needed In what is construed as a 180-degree turnaround on the controversial New Equitable Economic Empowerment Draft Bill, President Hage Geingob was quoted by a South African online publication that it is a “bad idea” and “not going to happen”. The Daily Maverick, in its article ‘Inside the House Namibia Built: Open Windows and a breath of fresh air’ on 12 September by journalist Greg Mills, quotes Geingob as having said: “Already we know it is not going to happen. We are not here to work against one group. We need to learn to hold hands. We don’t want to send the wrong signals to investors. Rather, we need fair play.”
These statements are diametrically opposed to what Geingob has said last Friday on 9 September at a press conference prior to his departure for his almost a month visit to the US.
Then, Geingob purportedly perplexed by the resistance from particularly the white-owned private sector, said he did not know why NEEEF, or the draft Bill NEEEB, was rejected before Cabinet approval and adoption.
He suggested a rejection of the Bill meant that whites do not want to pull rank with fellow black Namibians to address socioeconomic inequalities, and expressed a wish that people had come up with alternatives instead of an all-out rejection of the proposed legislation.
There were more than 120 submissions, or alternative suggestions, made by the private sector and other players during the consultative process earlier in July and August on the proposed Bill.
Notwithstanding, Geingob last Friday stated that the rejection of the Bill “looks like protectionism”, or undue protection of privileges “by those who have”, which he predicted would “lead us into big trouble”.
From his interview with the Daily Maverick it seems that Geingob’s dramatic backpedalling on the proposed black empowerment legislation is to appease foreign investor jitters and not to make a portion of the Namibian society feel unwanted in the proverbial Namibian
house.
While questioning the constitutionality of the draft Bill, particularly white businesses have during the public consultative process expressed fears that it might have the effect of creating a new disadvantaged group.
The chairperson of the Law Reform Development Commission (LRDC), Yvonne Dausab, tried to allay such fears by saying that the proposed law was not to prejudice anyone but to take all forward in the spirit of the Harambee Prosperity Plan. The former permanent secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister, Andrew Ndishishi, described the Bill as a “business partnership”, though he added that all-white male-owned businesses would have to comply with the new legislation whether they are doing business with the government or not.
Both Dausab and Ndishishi said the Bill is unassailable and will be passed.
CATHERINE SASMAN