Looking Beyond Racial Issues

DEAR Editor, (In response to letter “Racism in the Private Sector” by S Mc Carthy in The Namibian 16 January 2015.)

It is with much concern that I respond towards the above-mentioned letter, hoping to initiate constructive debate and reaction towards this thought-provoking topic.

We are now 25 years into independence and would have thought that by now we know better, yet it is always amazing how much attention this lame issue gets whenever it is alleged racism from Namibians of German or Afrikaans descent.

I start asking myself, what the real intention behind this issue is! Obviously we have much bigger obstacles to conquer, if it comes to the social well-being of our previously disadvantaged Namibians.

It seems to be forgotten, that the targeted business executive are Namibian nationals who previously often were challenged by the very same shortcomings that many of our youth are facing today. As students, many of our white executives worked during the holidays, because bursaries were not just simply dished out in those years.

Then they worked their way up the business ladder.

Some of them even took it upon themselves to leave their young behind in Namibia, while working abroad, so that they gained more experience, bringing back more knowledge, which they then shared with other Namibians, so that our industries at home could become more compatible with other countries. This helped the economy at home tremendously, to become more innovative and self-supportive within the private sector!

The sad point is that Namibians rather turn against their own fellow countrymen whenever it comes to alleged racial issues, before they actually challenged real threats, like the problem we experience with the Chinese investors flooding our mining sector and taking our natural resources without positively re-investing into the needs of our still much neglected and still (presently) disadvantaged fellow countrymen.

There is also the aggressive take -over of our building industry by foreign investors, which has left many fellow countrymen unemployed.

I am just wondering how many Chinese firms actually employ black Namibians in the ranks of top management! Hopefully Mr McCarthy is more knowledgeable on this, than I am. So he can present us with reliable statistics also on this lucrative part of our private sector.

To me there is a huge difference towards the social upliftment and the economic investment created through initiative from our local investors in opposition to the fruit brought with most of the foreign investments.

We must open our eyes and minds towards the fact that foreign investors are mainly interested in our land, since land is becoming globally so scarce, that it has become a need for overpopulated countries, like China, to find new living space for their people. The foreigners have no real interest in our social problems and they will definitely not help us find real solutions towards our home-made social ills! This will then again be left to the local investors to cope with.

I find it very disturbing, and quite unnatural, if everybody cries foul trying to find fault with local investors, while the arrogance from some foreign investors goes unchallenged and is humbly accepted. This I find a rather strange phenomenon, and in general not a constructive input towards our national reconciliation at all!

Another important factor is that these local companies put their own funding at risk and do not squander our hard earned taxpayers money or other funding, like many of our parastatals do.

I am of the opinion that in theory Affirmative Action has good credibility, yet in practice it seems to hamper innovation and individual entrepreneurship. Something our country is seriously lacking.

We need to get our priorities right, sort out our racial hangovers, or end up as another lost nation. Together we stand, divided we will fall!

Bianca Foelscher

Proudly Namibian

Karibib

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.