Fishrot is treason – Black

Fishrot is treason – BlackAnti-corruption petition still running Businessman Brian Black says Namibians must start speaking out against corruption to stop the rot, even if that has adverse consequences for them. The sheer scale and size of the Fishrot scandal in which hundreds of millions of dollars were allegedly paid in bribes for fishing quotas is tantamount to treason, says businessman Brian Black, the initiator of an internet petition against corruption.

Black had met with President Hage Geingob on 31 October to hand over the petition, a mere 13 days before the Fishrot exposé on 13 November.

At that stage the petition had been signed by 12 000 people. It is still running and has garnered 25 000 signatures in the meantime.

Black, who was challenged to return to State House with proof of the alleged corruption, anticipates to meet with Geingob again in January.

“When I decided to draft the petition, I was of the opinion that corruption and organised crime are the real reason why our people are living in abject poverty. It is not so much because we are still suffering from the effects of colonialism,” Black said last week.

Black said the Fishrot scandal was an unconscionable crime against the thousands of Namibians who had lost their jobs in the fishing sector because of it, and the billions stolen from the Namibian economy.

“The estimated annual revenue of the fishing industry is around N$12 billion. This is an industry where there has been a lot of fraudulent activity, but we will never know when exactly the Fishrot activity started.

“However, I am convinced the president was aware of that, perhaps not the scale of it, but he must have been aware that treason was taking place,” Black said.

Asked what he would present to Geingob at the January follow-up meeting, Black said: “I told him that as president of Namibia the things I am alleging are at his fingertips. I agreed to go back but knew at that stage that he was living in denial. Maybe the way the comrades are enriching themselves is considered affirmative shopping. Maybe he has no problem with that.”

Black said Namibians must start speaking out against corruption to stop the rot, even if that has adverse consequences.

“A number of people have threatened me with shooting and so on. It scares the hell out of my family but if I have to die, I want to die for something.

“If I die with a bullet to the head I will know that I have died for Namibia, a country I will never stop proclaiming as a paradise with its unique beauty on the African continent.

“I will know that for my children's sake I leave behind a Namibia where their ethnic origin or the colour of their skin will not determine the opportunities afforded to them,” Black said.

He said Namibians must hold their leaders to account and show a greater interest in the nation's affairs. “Namibians must not take things on face value; we must become protagonists,” Black said.

CATHERINE SASMAN