A Democratic Economy in Windhoek?

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah recently announced the Sixth National Development Plan (NDP-6) towards Vision 2030.

However, developing Namibia into a prosperous and industrialised country by 2030 is not even a speck on the horizon given the state of the nation.

The country’s re-classification as a lower middle-income country is confirmation of a lack of progress, if not failure.

Grant funding is not really an option because it comes with strings attached. And, generally, foreign investment cannot be the main solution for socio-economic progress.

Local development is more important.

The justifications for the appalling situation by referring to the drought and Covid-19 do not explain three decades of neoliberal regression.

It is impossible to industrialise given the dominance of the profit-driven financial sector.

If anything, it will take Namibia a long time to overcome that dominance and develop the productive sector for the common good.
A different action plan is needed without delay.

SHARED RESOURCES

The long-term vision of industrial development is necessary but clearly not sufficient to overcome the immediate crises.

The country needs details about small practical steps for bottom-up development. Maybe we could start experimenting in Windhoek with a democratic economy?

In their remarkable book, ‘The Making of a Democratic Economy – Building Prosperity For the Many, Not Just the Few’, Marjorie Kelly and Ted Howard set out their ideas about community wealth-building.

For them, wealth is a shared, democratic resource that must serve the common good.

Their Democracy Collaborative has been at the forefront of the community wealth-building movement in the United States, where they have done outstanding work in, for example, Cleveland, Ohio.

The work was a response to the lack of economic development and racialised poverty in that city.

Their strategy used institutions anchored in the community – such as hospitals and universities – as economic drivers.

They were encouraged to procure goods and services locally to support worker cooperatives in hospital laundries, solar power installations and urban (hydroponic) farming.

Ordinary economic activity was drawn on to serve common well-being, and made a significant difference in overcoming the unemployment crisis.
Concerted efforts were also made to support and fund worker cooperatives to fill gaps in the economy.

Building community wealth that stayed in the municipality was a way to move beyond the extractive economy that prioritises profits for the financial elite.

The Cleveland Model was so successful that it was expanded into employee ownership of existing businesses.

For Kelly and Howard, the principles of a democratic economy include keeping wealth local, prioritising the common good over profit, putting labour before capital, democratised ownership, ethical finance, etc.

CHANGED LIVES

The Democracy Collaborative also assisted with the Preston Model (England), which is more comprehensive.

In ‘Paint Your Town Red – How Preston took back control and your town can too’, Matthew Brown and Rhian Jones explain how a bottom-up approach was implemented in response to the austerity disaster.

There was a meaningful transfer of wealth to local communities.

In short, it was possible for ordinary people to take ownership and control of their own resources to improve their lives.

Municipal assets such as land and buildings were retained in public hands.

The Preston Model extended into a community credit union and a people’s bank.

After Covid-19, bankrupt or financially struggling small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were bought out and turned into democratic employee-owned businesses.

Developers were required to make 30% affordable housing available.

Instead of outsourcing and public-private partnerships, a local development strategy that emphasised collective ownership was followed.

This was because outsourcing led to poor quality services, while public-private partnerships devastated communities.

In the end, Preston – once the suicide capital of England – was voted the most improved city in 2018.
Democratising the local economy saved countless lives.

CAPITAL LESSONS

So, what are the lessons for Windhoek?

The capital city should, for example, encourage Katutura Hospital, the University of Namibia and the municipality to acquire goods and services from local SMEs and worker cooperatives.

Consideration should be given to urgently set up a Windhoek Community Wealth Fund that could finance cooperatives, and to establish a Cooperative College that might teach working people how to run these worker organisations.

Bankrupt or financially struggling SMEs must be obtained and transformed into democratic employee-owned businesses.

The missing element in Vision 2030 has been implementation.

This is the aspect that must be fixed with worker cooperatives and employee-owned businesses.

A starting point could be solar energy cooperatives, but this should quickly be expanded to daily economic activities such as cleaning, gardening, catering, renovations, etc.

The country needs a different action plan now.

• The authors are members of the Marxist Group of Namibia.

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