Namibia Inc: Are We A 51 Per Cent Nation?

HAVE you ever thought about it? Half of all Namibians in their prime working ages are not getting up and going to work!

It’s not what I say. Statistics, damn statistics, is what tells us this.
The Namibia Labour Force Survey (NLFS) of 2008 shows that not only are 51,2 per cent of all Namibians unemployed, but that 53 per cent of those between the ages of 25 to 29 are jobless, while 46 per cent of people between 30 and 34 years share the same predicament. It also revealed that 35 per cent of Namibians 50 years and older do not have employment.
What the above is telling us that Namibia is becoming less vital and industrious. The warning sign is in the fact that 51,2 per cent (or one out of every two) Namibians aren’t working.
Worst still, the problem is likely to deteriorate further given that the rate of population growth between 1991 and 2001 was 2,6 per cent per annum and has remained around the same for the last few years.
We are not only faced with the high unemployment rate. We also struggle in many other areas.
Namibia’s education system has failed thousands of young people who ended up in streets, our manufacturing base is very small and the production in our agricultural sector is weakening, to name but a few. Of late, we must also deal with things such as climate change.
Although I do not want to generalise it, it is a fact that Namibian institutions of higher education continue to churn out a high number of qualified graduates each year but their prospects of getting jobs also remain a pipe dream due to what they offer to the different sectors.
Such higher learning institutions get their candidates from schools.
Since the introduction of the new education system after Independence, we have not managed to even get a 52 per cent pass rate for the 30 000-odd full-time Grade 10s each year while of the 42 000 full-time candidates for Grade 12 last year, for instance, only 3 656 (8,9 per cent) received enough credits to enter institutions of higher learning.
Part of the problem at the schools is the failure of the education ministry in implementing the prescribed staffing ratio of 30 pupils to one teacher at secondary schools and 35 to one teacher at primary level. Some secondary schools have as many as 40 to 45 pupils in a class.
These are things that were supposed to be solved through the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (Etsip).
One of the goals of Vision 2030 is to see a Namibia with a population of healthy, well-educated, skilled and financially stable people with a broad range of talents, and displaying a positive attitude towards themselves and fellow citizens.
What Namibia needs now is people willing to take up the space to contest for economic and social emancipation while those who feel hamstrung by their ambition keep quiet.
We are informed that the Targeted Investment Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (TIPEEG), introduced by Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila during her budget introduction, is a tool to tackle the hugh unemployment evil.
But if TIPEEG, which focusses on agriculture, transport, tourism, and housing and sanitation, only benefits a few through tenders, we know that the 104 000 jobs which she announced in her speech will remain a dream.
Even though Namibia won’t be a basket case, we will remain mediocre in world rankings. We will be a 51 per cent nation despite spending gazillions on efforts to change the situation if we continue to divert money into thoughtless and self-destructive ways.
As long as we don’t act now our future economic and educational goose is cooked.
It is a festering sore, especially for those who happen to be part of the unfortunate poor.
So let’s move from talkshops to real and tangible action with visible outcomes.