Urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa argues that traditional chiefs in Namibia are appointed from royal bloodlines and accountable only to royal families, noting that Namibia's monarchies control land, influence local governance and receive state funding. The article contends that these monarchies are political actors rather than neutral cultural institutions and traces their roots to pre-colonial systems of social hierarchy later reshaped by colonial administrations.
Why it matters
Minister's argument for abolishing traditional monarchies opens major constitutional and governance debate about power structures, land control, and state funding.
Urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa argues that traditional chiefs in Namibia are appointed from royal bloodlines and accountable only to royal families, noting that Namibia's monarchies control land, influence local governance and receive state funding. The article contends that these monarchies are political actors rather than neutral cultural institutions and traces their roots to pre-colonial systems of social hierarchy later reshaped by colonial administrations.
A housing research seminar at the Bank of Namibia found that 70% of Namibians are priced out of formal housing. According to the article, this is not a market failure but a structural outcome of colonial land policies, bank financialisation, low wages, and treating housing as a commodity rather than a social right.
An opinion piece argues that Namibia's banks function as capitalist institutions designed to allocate credit upward to the middle class and elites while excluding young people, informal workers, and the poor through credit criteria that reproduce social inequality.
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah's State of the Nation address highlighted economic growth and foreign investment in sectors like green hydrogen and mining, but critics argue the speech missed an opportunity to address austerity, inequality, and the cost-of-living crisis, with a development budget of N$12.8 billion deemed insufficient to tackle decades of inequality and persistent unemployment.
A left-wing critique argues that while independence brought political sovereignty and constitutional achievements, economic structures of racial capitalism were not dismantled but "redecorated," and inequality persists because the state remains integrated into global capitalism and neoliberal logic. The article contends that class replaced race as the mechanism of exclusion, and that emancipation requires structural transformation of the economic base, not merely social spending or policy reform.
An opinion piece criticizes Namibia's 2026 budget for adhering to austerity and neo-classical economics rather than pursuing structural economic transformation. The authors argue that the government should instead implement expansionary policies, industrialisation, public investment in social sectors, and democratic economic controls to address unemployment and inequality.