Part 2 – Defining White Monopoly Capital

What is white monopoly capital (WMC)? According to Google, “capital” is wealth in the form of assets owned by a person or organisation.

A monopoly relates to exclusive control of something. Some relate to WMC as capital resources in the possession of white nationals, obtained from blacks during the period of apartheid, such as money, livestock, land, farms, etc through force, power and regulatory exploitation.

Are we able to draw a line between capitalism and WMC? In general, capitalism is a game of unfair play and survival of the fittest. There are many African countries which were not oppressed under apartheid, yet their resources are abused, and they have no “means of production”. Capitalism is already under heavy criticism globally, and is driven by a different superset of market forces.

The current judgement is passed towards the unfair advantages posed by apartheid, whereby white nationals received subsidies and various other capital resources. Subsidies under apartheid boosted the unfair distribution of resources because the vast majority sacrificed and laboured for the welfare of the overprotected minority.

Subsidies included farms, livestock, land, natural resources, permits, manufacturing and other means in a very conservative, nationalistic and protectionist context. They controlled wealth acquired from vast deposits of gold, platinum, diamonds, zinc, fuel supply, food, agriculture, as well as infrastructure, and a vast number of commercial and other services.

Recapitalisation is more complex in the present economic sphere and sensitive to the economy. During apartheid, global multinational monopolies invested strong concessions in local resources, and they fought tooth and nail to protect their interests. Until today, these global conglomerates and local elite, white nationals formed alliances to create a complex defence mechanism against recapitalisation. Thus, WMC is not solely to blame, as some people are only acting as proxies for these global conglomerates.

Thus, recapitalisation towards white monopoly capital is not only linked to locals, but will also shake down the sensitive spots of global capitalists.

For the coherence of recapitalisation, assets such as land, livestock, new mineral allocations and manufacturing should be harmonised and included in development roles for the benefit of all nationals, regardless of race.

The promotion of black economic empowerment (BEE) alone is not satisfactory as it undermines and ignores the presence of global capitalists, which affects the prosperity of all nationals. On one hand, capitalism also contributes to the outcomes of development, employment-creation, wealth-creation, etc. If black capitalism wants to surpass white capitalism, they can only play by the same rules of capitalism.

Harmful capitalism can only be softened by nationalistic interventionist policies which are inclusive of everyone. Interventionism allows governments to dictate the market’s demand and supply. In a free-market system, growth is driven by demand and supply, which is vulnerable to severe interventionism. To a certain level, interventionism is good for maintaining control of the national resources in favour of all nationals.

There is a need for introducing harmonising roadmaps to resolve the racial divide in the post-apartheid economies.

Apartheid legislations ranged from segregation, job reservations, separate education, sexual apartheid, land tenure and geographic segregation, pass laws and influx control, political representation, Bantustans, bannings and detentions.

I would suggest the implementation of harmonised, inclusive and non-discriminatory legal instruments to remedy inequalities in wealth, resources, education, employment, land and geographic segregation. In summary, the harmonious interventions should be embedded in legislative, economic, fiscal and monetary frameworks of the country.

Harmonisation can be achieved through sound advocacy for equality with rigid inclusive policy measures with binding commitments at national level with measurable strategic outcomes, with possible incentives. A pacifist, reconciliatory approach is more bearable for national stability, instead of radical outrages. It is also impractical to nationalise resources instead of nationalising the skills to trade, extract and process the resources.

What are the main focus areas where inclusivity can be reached through harmonisation efforts?

Financial liberalisation – In the wake of austerity measures and fiscal challenges, existing diverging policy grey areas need serious consolidation. Some commercial entities are loyal to apartheid’s conservatism doctrine, and shy away from inclusive empowerment.

Land liberalisation – Namibia is facing a land backlog like never before. Land shortages are left unresolved, and need prudent redistribution. The topic of land capture overshadows most major national debates. Currently, political interventions on land issues remain poor, biased and impractical, causing economic problems.

Structural re-urbanisation readjustments are crucial for urban development. Previously black people mostly lived in designated rural areas, and did not have access to real valuable urban land. Their minor houses, bonds, assets, etc were not equally valued, and accrue to a low social wealth dividend. Only certain urban houses are enjoying higher inflation readjustments annually in favour of their owners’ bonds. There are many unpolarised economic outcomes from apartheid that need harmonious, practical and nationalistic, systematic reform.

Most importantly, national development goals such as NDP4 and Vision 2030 do include just measures to untangle the apartheid aftermaths, or reform their deep impacts. Therefore, we need to rely on persistent technocratic interventions that will liberalise the majority of Namibians from economic inequality.

We pray that the nation as a whole, regardless of race, should deliberate on legislative, economic, fiscal and monetary recapitalisation reforms to dissolve post-apartheid aftermaths.

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