Cleaning With a Broken Broom: The ACC in an Age of ‘Rot’

In Kaulinge v Minister of Health and Social Services (2006), justice Sylvester Mainga reminded us that by adopting the Constitution, we crossed from a “culture of authority” to a “culture of justification”.

In this new order, every use of power must be explained, defended and shown to serve the people, not those who wield it.

That vision of governance has always been more than legal theory.

It was meant to be the constitutional oxygen we breathe daily. Yet in 2025, we are still gasping for air.

That is why the metaphor of cleaning house feels so apt.

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has set the right tone, that of “not business as usual”.

Many Namibians can already see the president is intent on sweeping out the dirt of complacency and corruption.

But the question is whether the broom she has been given, namely the Anti-Corruption Commission framework and the ACC itself, is broken.

THE REAL STING

Consider the scandals that weigh heavily on our national psyche: the still-unfolding Namcor (‘oil-rot’) case, and the ongoing Fishrot trial.

No court has delivered on final guilt, and we need to be be careful with that.

However, the scale of what is alleged is staggering.

These are not the old ‘small-time’ abuses – an uncle helping a nephew with a tender, or a minister bending a rule on land allocation.

We are dealing with national resources (fisheries, oil, energy), sectors that underpin the country’s GDP, employment and food security.

That is the real sting. Not that corruption happened, but that it could increase to the size it has almost undetected for years.

How is it possible?

Why is it that ordinary employees cannot print a personal page at the office without human resources noticing but millions of dollars can shift through public institutions without setting off alarms?

Where were the checks and balances that should have forced justification and accountability at every step?

WHERE DID IT GO WRONG?

For its time, the Anti-Corruption Act of 2003 was visionary.

It criminalised bribery, abuse of office, tender manipulation, and created a commission to carry out investigations.

It gave us a broom. But it was a broom for 2003.

Back then, corruption largely meant tender inflation, connections culture, insider favours, etc.

By 2025, the game is different. Namibia is in the foetal stages of becoming an oil-and-gas player, youth unemployment is soaring, inequality is widening, and the stakes of public contracts are in the billions.

When corruption moves upstream (at the level of concessions, supply agreements and strategic projects), you don’t just lose money; you lose public trust, jobs and national leverage.

This is where the broom bends: a framework designed for the corruption risks of 2003 is expected to sweep up the billion-dollar scandals of 2025.

So, what must be asked?

• Do we have a binding corruption risk assessment framework (like the one the Financial Intelligence Act imposes in banking) for every ministry, state-owned enterprise (SOE) and major project?
• Are officials in positions of easy enrichment required to file verified, public asset disclosures, or do declarations remain private and untested?
• Do our institutions submit mandatory annual anti-corruption compliance reports? If not, why not?
• Should every major SOE or high-value project (fisheries, oil, hydrogen, mining) have a dedicated anti-corruption officer publishing annual integrity reports?

These questions barely scratch the surface.

They point to a wider truth: the broom bends at the point of prevention.

CHECKS AND BALANCES

On paper, the act empowers prevention. But in practice, the rules are discretionary, optional, and unevenly enforced.

That is how scandals like Fishrot and oil-rot grew unchecked.

The ACC Act authorises asset declarations but Namibia has no universal, public, audited disclosure regime for public functionaries such as SOE boards, or technocrats managing billion-dollar concessions.

Whistleblowing is legally protected but, in reality, reporting channels are unsafe and retaliation is real.

A procurement law exists, but without live transparency and beneficial-ownership checks, contracts can still move through shell companies fronting for elites.

And the auditor general can flag irregularities, but has no direct enforcement power, leaving findings to gather dust while years pass.

That is why Namibians feel uneasy.

We commend the current administration’s commitment to sweeping out corruption but still instinctively brace ourselves for the next scandal, the next collapse, the next “rot”.

That constant expectation is itself a sign that the broom is bent.

A SOBER WARNING

Yes, reform will be costly. Strengthening the ACC, mandating compliance officers, building procurement dashboards all require funding.

But the alternative is even costlier: gutted industries, demoralised citizens, and a democracy seen as incapable of defending itself from insiders.

History provides us with a sober warning. Under colonialism, Namibia’s resources were looted for the benefit of a minority elite.

These scandals risk repeating that story, only now with local actors.

That is the broken broom: a legal framework stuck in 2003 while Namibia faces the stakes of 2025.

Yes, it’s right to sweep. And yes, it’s right to praise an administration that signals change.

But if Namibia is to live up to its constitutional promise of a culture of justification, the broom itself must be straightened.

If “not business as usual” is to mean anything, it must mean this. Only then will Namibians start believing the house can, in fact, be kept clean.

• Sam-Leon Nakantimba is an LLB (honours) graduate with a diploma in alternative dispute resolution, and a candidate legal practitioner.

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