Namibia, a Gomcha’s Paradise

It is easy to understand Namibians who seem excited that the arrests related to alleged grand corruption at Namcor are an indication of president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s pledge of “business unusual”.

Only the crooked and the most naive can still believe corruption isn’t systemic and deeply entrenched in Namibia. Some even proclaim that the Anti-Corruption Commission is having an epiphany and is now ready to go after the so-called ‘big fish’.

Lest we forget, Namibia has a long history of major corruption scandals getting exposed and officials being fired and arrested. Yet, more often than not, the perpetrators are let off the hook, especially on technicalities, as well as cover and protection in some cases, and continue to enjoy what any reasonable observer can see is the fruit of their looting.

The fact is that Namibia is well and truly a gomcha’s paradise: The country is being run by people, some of whom could otherwise be viewed as con artists feeding at the trough of hardworking taxpayers.

Gomcha (pronounced with the Afrikaans soft g as in ‘geld’), is South African slang that Namibian townships derived from the word ‘rhumusha’, which means a ‘clever’ person in the sense of ‘streetsmart’ crooks who fleece people of their money.

Such is the case with some people occupying key management roles in government and state-owned entities.

Many of those people are essentially focused on get-rich-quick schemes by either joining state-funded organisations, conniving to pay each other astronomical salaries and perks while the entities crumble.

In other instances, officials work with outsiders as proxies to award themselves and cronies tenders (public procurement contracts) and line their pockets.

Unfortunately, this week’s arrests at Namcor, as well as the exposure of the Fishrot scandal six years ago, only serve to indicate that the rot of corruption has permeated the very ethical and moral fibre of the country.

We should not need to reach the stage of criminal prosecutions. To stop the misuse and theft of taxpayer funds, we need basic measures and action to instil a culture of honesty and competence.

It never made sense that Namcor wanted a taxpayer bailout of more than N$2 billion in less than two years while already getting money from a fuel levy, administering fuel storage that haemorrhaged N$7.5 billion of public funds.

Ruling elites have for decades refused to reform a patronage system of fishing and mining licences as well as land giveaways to the politically connected.

Lifestyle audits to determine why government and parastatal employees are engaging in conspicuous consumption beyond their means should be routinely undertaken.

Conflict of interest regulations, requiring upfront declarations when friends and relatives get state contracts should be implemented.

It is not right, for instance, that a state president’s children should benefit from government-issued benefits like mining and fishing with the only defence being that they are entitled to gain ‘just like every Namibian’.

The elite, their families and friends have a clear advantage because of their connections.

Otherwise, do not go into politics if you don’t want to forego the opportunity of relatives and friends engaging in public works.

Wide-ranging reforms need to be urgently implemented if we want to root out state capture by those glorified gomchas involved in running the country.

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