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Written on: 17. 02. 2009 [15:47]
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Gecko
Hendrik
Topic creator
registered since: 12.02.2009
Posts: 33
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This can only go in two directions.
One, fine citizenship will be harder to get for Non-Namibians. In a way someone did their homework on this, I see it as a way to protect our national security and strengthening our borders. And it will allow Namibians to get the first option to any job instead of a foreigner. But a larger labour base will strengthen the GDP. we all know that Namibia is rather limited on the labour force due to our low population.
Two, a large portion of skilled labour does come from foreign workers, if the constitution not allow these workers to stay and get citizenship what will happen them, what will happen to the Namibians that needs to learn from them?
The same policies was done in Afghanistan and the Sudan to deter foreigners to come to their country, we all know why? because of extremists wanted to dictate the people, it has happened before it will happen again.
Anyone's view is welcome, I have permanent residence to Namibia going on for 14 years.
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Written on: 20. 02. 2009 [08:16]
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litoralis
robert
registered since: 20.02.2009
Posts: 1
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Sadly this is one of the things which should not be put up for referendum as the people will just see it as preventing jobs from going to foreigners and vote it in.
The reality is that there are almost no unemployed Namibians who are also highly skilled or qualified. 10000 labourers cannot replace 1 engineer or similar critical person and the countries development will slow to a crawl as we wait for local skills to become available.
Young Namibians have a bad attitude to studying, thinking that who they know may just be enough to get the job. Of course there is also the problem that highschool education in Namibia is not the best and does not equip the average student very well for further studies.
Perhaps we should rather create a system whereby any company employing for instance a foreign engineer should have to offer a bursary to an aspiring young engineer to study at an institute which would produce a replacement for the foreign engineer in 10 years time.
And in case anyone is wondering, I am a born Namibian.
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Written on: 20. 02. 2009 [18:08]
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gjensen
Gerard Jensen
registered since: 02.01.2009
Posts: 39
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Gecko wrote:
This can only go in two directions.
I don't think so - current trends show that this only works in one (and a very detrimental) direction: skilled labour becomes even harder to get in Namibia then ever before.
Currently, getting a foreign expert to come into Namibia and train local staff (and as such increase their skill level substantially) is already quite difficult. In future that will be next to impossible. Which means foreign companies will loose interest in doing such business in Namibia - simply because their main business goal is *not* to satisfy Namibian administrative red tape. They usually have loads of other business opportunities at hand to concentrate on - few companies around the world really *depend* on doing business in Namibia anyway. They just do it - as long as it's profitable of course.
So in future, anyone that wants to learn more than the limited amount of training facilities in Namibia can possibly offer, will have to leave the country to do training elsewhere. Most will probably just move to South Africa for a couple of years - others may find studying in the US or somewhere in Europe to be an option. But one thing remains: skilled workers are wanted *everywhere*. So what should keep a Namibian that seeks well paid employment from not taking up overseas offers?
What remains in Namibia is unskilled workers - or simply families that can't afford to make that move for whatever reason there may be. Plus of course a good handfull of folks that have that extra motivation to give something back to the society that they came from - but even that number is rather dwindling.
Whatever the naive expectations of certain ex-presidents may have been - it is rather unlikely that Namibia wll be able to keep highly skilled labour within its boundaries. Not because it wouldn't be possible to increase the amount of facilities that would actually offer such studies (Government would have to pump in *much* more money for this though - which they simply don't have at the moment, and given their "waste culture" probably won't have in years to come), but simply because you do not have the variety of companies operating in Namibia that would be needed to offer a broad employment opportunity field anywhere here.
So you educate them - and off they go, making their money elsewhere in the world, perhaps returning one day when they reached their personal goals and seek a cosy place to watch the sun set in their lives. Which of course is understandable - but won't help the Namibian economy much, at least not for the next 20-30 years.
So instead of limiting the "influx" of "foreigners", they should instead look at what other countries do: we may not need yet another million job-seekers that just came to Namibia because the outlook in their own country for their future is even bleaker than it is here. But we may need *loads* of more experienced people to come here, lead (or build new) companies, increase profitability, pay large amount of taxes due to their high income, and with that build up the demand for much more educated people, making it desirable for our current kids to rather go and learn, get a degree and then seek employment, instead of turning to violence and theft as the "only way to make ends meet".
So we need exactly the reverse of what this dumbfounded folks in SWAPO currently debate: *more* foreigners with *better* skills, preferrably with *much higher* skills than they have themselves!
When I said "have a look abroad" all these years, I usually got the reply that I'm just plain racist or some neo-colonialist - whatever. These days, the same folks have a problem: I simply look at the US and mention what Obama does. He gathered loads of seasoned experts around himself, knowing only too well that he need *MUCH* more skills to counter the current financial and foreign policy crisis that threatens his country than he can possibly muster himself.
Can you see any Namibian government official that would publicly proclaim that he's not as much of an expert in the field, as his current position may suggest? Criticise any of them, and their first reaction is not to amend their ways, but instead to silence you, so that they can keep their face.
So quite honestly, I do not think that the current government would be up to the task of truly amending the education and employment situation in Namibia. Their current ideas simply do not match the bleak realities - and unfortunately they also don't want to hear any of this either.
So they can amend the constitution as much and as often as they want - but they won't improve anything. Quite the contrary will be true: since the set a precident for any future government to come, they actually water down the (so far) highly acclaimed constitutional state of this country up to a point where one day *NO* foreign company will have any interest in doing business with Namibia anymore. I mean: why would they want to sell anything here? This country#s population isn't much more than what a smaller town in China can muster as a market, and the number of those that could actually afford to buy anthing more expensive than a battery operated transistor radio every couple of years continues to decline year after year, so that market alone may by now only be as small as what a minor town in Europe can provide. Why would thus anyone focus on Namibia to do business here?
The rest slowly drain out of the country: since you will soon have no further influx from outside, that means that the brain-drain will continue not only unabated, but increasingly so - untill you reach a state where you have a constant outflow of skills and with that fewer and fewer companies, less job opportunities, higher unemployment and a youth that faces and even bleaker future than it does already now.
But will they listen? Probably not. Being stubborn is frequently mistaken in Namibia for "displaying pride" - while in reality that's no pride but simple arrogance. Let's see how far that get's this government - I have sincere doubts that the Namibian people will truly endure that nonsense much longer. Highly skilled or not - you can't cheat people out of their future and dreams for very much longer.
Actually SWAPO should know that scenario all too well - after all, that's what enabled them to come to power in Namibia, as the previous occupational force failed to deliver in pretty much the same way (speaking of the economy here - violence and killings propagated by South African troops is still a totally diffenet cup of tea, no doubt about that).
But they probably all visited their local witch-doctor and think they're now completely immune to any change in vox populi... which is of course so naive, it's already quite cute again. "Real African", as they then claim - not understanding that most people around the world marvel only at the "cute" things in Africa: tiger pups, small little geckos, native paintings 'n stuff. Not the frighteningly important things like poverty, AIDS, violence, theft etc.
Perhaps one fine day they wake up and realise that their job as politicians is *not* to roll out some nice high-gloss marketing material that would allow someone to "sell" Namibia abroad, but rather to tackle the problems they have *inside* of Namibia, even if that means making decisions that limit their own benefits package.
But that's probably a long way to go. Let's just hope they will not be the only ones left in Namibia, then tasked solely with administrating their own poverty. But unless someone starts some drastic re-thinking within SWAPO, that's what at least *I* think they're heading for.
Pretty grim outlook for a weekend commentary, I agree. But reality doesn't take a weekend break either, I'm afraid...
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Written on: 23. 04. 2009 [11:59]
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TheSandcat
Mike
registered since: 23.04.2009
Posts: 8
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Unless we can get rid of all this affirmative action nonsense,things will get worse. People should be employed on merit only.
And as long as we are ruled by people who see no problem in Zimbabwe,and still believe Mugabe is a hero,and as long as people actually vote for such people, we're doomed.IMO you cannot allow totally uneducated people to vote.Grade 8 should be a minimum requirement!
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Constitution that will change again???
