Cabinet approves amendments to BBE policy

CABINET has approved the decision to amend and expand the Broad Based Economic Empowerment document to make it more relevant to Namibia.

In the process, the draft BBEE was also renamed to Transformational Economic and Social Empowerment Framework (TESEF) and the Cabinet technical committee overseeing its work was revived. Following a 2004 Cabinet decision on a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy for Namibia, a Technical Committee drafted a policy that borrowed extensively from South African and Malaysian experiences.Cabinet said in a statement last week that the policy was not tailor-made for the Namibian reality and was vague on a number of key issues.The key Namibian issues were mixed economy, economic growth and human dignity of all Namibians.Cabinet mandated the Office of the Prime Minister to undertake wide-ranging consultations on designing a proper Namibian policy.The Cabinet technical committee consists of the Office of the Prime Minister and ministries of Information and Broadcasting, Finance, Mines and Energy, Trade and Industry, Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Labour and Social Welfare and the National Planning Commission.Cabinet said economic empowerment through schemes such as Affirmative Action loans, fish quota allocations, land resettlement and employment equity must reflect positive changes in the lives of not only a few individuals.When he addressed a media briefing last week, Prime Minister Nahas Angula bemoaned the fact that some of the beneficiaries sold their fishing quotas to buy expensive cars which they later crash.At the end, it was back to zero for them.With the amended policy, Cabinet aims to diversify the economy through value addition and manufacturing of primary products, tackling inequities and skewed income distribution through schemes of redress and redistribution and developing import substitution strategies so that Namibia is less dependent from outside.Local product incubation, production and distribution will also be encouraged.Cabinet expects the policy to take into consideration the overall national development and growth strategy and should take factors like historical experience, the present context, the legal framework and the national vision into consideration.—- Parliamentarians speak on chaos in Namibian soccer * DENVER ISAACS THE National Football Association (NFA) came under fire in the National Assembly last week when CoD MP Elma Dienda introduced a motion asking parliamentarians to urgently look into the status of football in the country.Namibia’s sliding position in both world and African soccer, as well as a recent discovery of reportedly N$3 million squandered in Fifa money, begs for lawmakers to investigate the situation, Dienda told fellow MPs.”Namibian football has declined drastically since 1998 when the country played at the highest continental stage, The African Nations Cup.At that stage Namibia was ranked among the top 60 football playing nations in the world by Fifa,” she said.”Today, Namibia occupies a shameful 164th position from a total of 207 Fifa-affiliated countries in the world rankings, while in Africa they are stuck in the 40th position from a total of 52 countries.”Football receives the biggest chunk of money from the Ministry of Sports, she continued, but what was being done with this money remained a mystery.”The financial status of the association, why is it a secret? Are the members satisfied with the financial report submitted to the Namibia Sports Commission? The fact is that a Fifa delegation is due to visit Namibia for an explanation of the money,” she charged.She was referring to an alleged N$3 million dollars donated by Fifa over a period of two years, as part of an annual contribution to all its affiliates for the development of football in those countries.In 2004, Fifa donated an amount of US$1,7 million to the NFA for this cause, and donated the same amount in 2005.She further requested the house to look into the affairs of two other sports associations, the Namibia Rugby Union and Athletics Namibia, saying that these three bodies were the main culprits responsible for the country’s degradation as far as sports were concerned.”Not that other bodies do not have problems, but at least they try to solve their problems in a mature way,” she said.She appealed for the matter to be referred to the parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social and Community Development for further investigation.The debate is expected to continue today.Following a 2004 Cabinet decision on a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy for Namibia, a Technical Committee drafted a policy that borrowed extensively from South African and Malaysian experiences.Cabinet said in a statement last week that the policy was not tailor-made for the Namibian reality and was vague on a number of key issues.The key Namibian issues were mixed economy, economic growth and human dignity of all Namibians.Cabinet mandated the Office of the Prime Minister to undertake wide-ranging consultations on designing a proper Namibian policy.The Cabinet technical committee consists of the Office of the Prime Minister and ministries of Information and Broadcasting, Finance, Mines and Energy, Trade and Industry, Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Labour and Social Welfare and the National Planning Commission.Cabinet said economic empowerment through schemes such as Affirmative Action loans, fish quota allocations, land resettlement and employment equity must reflect positive changes in the lives of not only a few individuals.When he addressed a media briefing last week, Prime Minister Nahas Angula bemoaned the fact that some of the beneficiaries sold their fishing quotas to buy expensive cars which they later crash.At the end, it was back to zero for them.With the amended policy, Cabinet aims to diversify the economy through value addition and manufacturing of primary products, tackling inequities and skewed income distribution through schemes of redress and redistribution and developing import substitution strategies so that Namibia is less dependent from outside.Local product incubation, production and distribution will also be encouraged.Cabinet expects the policy to take into consideration the overall national development and growth strategy and should take factors like historical experience, the present context, the legal framework and the national vision into consideration.—- Parliamentarians speak on chaos in Namibian soccer * DENVER ISAACS THE National Football Association (NFA) came under fire in the National Assembly last week when CoD MP Elma Dienda introduced a motion asking parliamentarians to urgently look into the status of football in the country.Namibia’s sliding position in both world and African soccer, as well as a recent discovery of reportedly N$3 million squandered in Fifa money, begs for lawmakers to investigate the situation, Dienda told fellow MPs.”Namibian football has declined drastically since 1998 when the country played at the highest continental stage, The African Nations Cup.At that stage Namibia was ranked among the top 60 football playing nations in the world by Fifa,” she said. “Today, Namibia occupies a shameful 164th position from a total of 207 Fifa-affiliated countries in the world rankings, while in Africa they are stuck in the 40th position from a total of 52 countries.”Football receives the biggest chunk of money from the Ministry of Sports, she continued, but what was being done with this money remained a mystery.”The financial status of the association, why is it a secret? Are the members satisfied with the financial report submitted to the Namibia Sports Commission? The fact is that a Fifa delegation is due to visit Namibia for an explanation of the money,” she charged.She was referring to an alleged N$3 million dollars donated by Fifa over a period of two years, as part of an annual contribution to all its affiliates for the development of football in those countries.In 2004, Fifa donated an amount of US$1,7 million to the NFA for this cause, and donated the same amount in 2005.She further requested the house to look into the affairs of two other sports associations, the Namibia Rugby Union and Athletics Namibia, saying that these three bodies were the main culprits responsible for the country’s degradation as far as sports were concerned.”Not that other bodies do not have problems, but at least they try to solve their problems in a mature way,” she said.She appealed for the matter to be referred to the parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social and Community Development for further investigation.The debate is expected to continue today.