Namibia is back on the map. This time for all the wrong reasons. In a major abuse of public trust, two Namibian Ministers (Fisheries and Justice) were caught red-handed accepting kickbacks and bribes in the country’s largest corruption scandal since independence, commonly known as #Fishrot. This comes just six months after the ex- Minister of Education, Arts and Culture was found guilty of corruption and lying under oath. Moreover, there appears to be a growing consensus that this is but the tip of the iceberg, and that the rot runs deep – perhaps the diamond cutting and polishing space will be next.
From an economic perspective, the country remains in turmoil. Government finances remain under severe pressure, and we are soon to enter our fourth year with little or no growth. In order to fund Government’s budget deficit and to growth the economy, we have seen increasing pressure on pension funds to invest more in Namibia. This means more of the private savings of individuals must be invested in both Government debt (for a Government with an increasing legacy of financial mismanagement, and now, corruption) as well as into a shrinking real economy. This is short-sighted, and not in the interest of savers, however there is not much we can do as it is now in law.
Government payroll is too big, adding on that, SOE’s and an airline sipping up our tax contributions. To run this country is getting way too expensive, to be honest, it is getting out of hand.
Now is the time for our honest leadership to come to the party, now is the time for us to support honest leadership, now is the time to get involved in starting to build this country back up, and to provide a future for the people of the nation.
I want to end the negative part of my message, but my wish is that the government and decision-makers will start using our local experts. The professionals, economists etc. in Namibia know the circumstances the best. There is no need to make use of foreign consultants, contractors, and pay them an arm and a leg, again. Making use of foreign people to advise, to build, and doing whatsoever result only in Namibian money flowing out of the country. We can turn this boat, with or without fish, surely, we can.
While we are busy getting our house in order, we must hope that our neighboring country can sort out their problems. Will the Zondo commission start speeding up the process? Will their fraud and corruption investigations get “leadership” under the loop. I hope that all that happened up to now can start changing circumstances in Southern Africa; otherwise, we are heading for a disaster in the next five years.
In the markets!!! The last 12 months.
The JSE ALL Share index up over 9%.
Resources up 31%, Financials down 1.2%, Industrials up 4%.
The Listed property index still about the same as a year ago.
Property in Namibia still under immense pressure. Did we reach fair value on property prices or, is there another 10% correction in the pipeline for property prices? Without a change in household incomes, it is unlikely that house and rent prices will pick up again. Household incomes will only improve when the economy does – don’t put on your buying boots too early!
The USA market ran hard, S&P 500 up 26% year to date. The USA created a massive 266000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%
Rain has started to fall; I hope that this will be an excellent rain season. Is it possible to overcome this severe drought? For the time being, it is raining smiles and positivity. I value that a lot!!!
Please travel safe, take care, and a Merry Christmas. I hope that the New Year is a prosperous one for all.
Kind regards
Kerrie Mostert