2024: The Year of Expectations and the Unexpected

This year was dubbed ‘The Year of Expectations’ by the late president Hage Geingob.

“It will be a new beginning for the Namibian House,” Geingob said in his New Year’s Eve address on the last day of 2023.

The president was spot on, it was going to be a new beginning for Namibians.

His death on 4 February ushered Namibia into unknown territory.

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology was tasked to keep the nation posted on the president’s funeral proceedings and the transition of power to the next president.

Audrin Mathe, the ministry’s executive director, said Namibians had to start the year off by “putting on their best shoes and running with it”.

A lot has transpired since.

The Namibian spoke to some newsmakers across various sectors on the year that was.

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

From having to communicate the president’s death, implementing the Access to Information Act and being accused of interfering in state media, the communication ministry had its work cut out.

“We rose to the occasion to ensure that we, first of all, communicate properly, because we didn’t want to create panic over the president’s death.

The idea was to show the fact that we were mourning at the same time, creating a sense of unity, while also creating a sense that everything is in order,” Mathe says.

He says the government is considering appointing an information commissioner early next year.

Equally, the Ministry of Health and Social Services was under pressure to improve service delivery at state facilities.
Executive director Ben Nangombe says contractors’ capacity affected the implementation of various projects this year.

“So we were, for example, forced to cancel contracts for several projects, including the maternity ward at Onandjokwe, the intensive care unit (ICU), and the neonatal ICU at Swakopmund. Then the issue of the contracts that we also challenged in court for the supply of medicine.

“But we are moving forward in dealing with that situation. We are engaging the manufacturers directly to sell medicine to Namibia so that we overcome that particular challenge,” he says.

Nangombe says 2025 looks quite promising for the country.

“I actually look forward to the difference the district hospital will make in the healthcare system for Namibians, especially for residents of the Khomas region,” he says.

Namibia’s justice system drew attention with the country’s appearance at the International Court of Justice to welcome amendments of existing laws while creating new ones.

The justice ministry’s executive director, Gladice Pickering, highlights Namibia’s compliance to the requirements suggested by the Financial Action Task Force to deal with the country’s grey listing status.

“These acts contributed significantly to Namibia passing its technical compliance requirements for greylisting. Of course, now we are still busy with the implementation requirements, which we will be assessed on very soon,” she says.

BIG AND SMALL BUSINESS

While the government focused on stabilising the nation amid unforeseen challenges, the business sector – both large and small – also faced its own hurdles.

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) released data in October this year that showed economic activity taking a hit in the second quarter of 2024, with business registrations falling by 34%.

This applied to both close corporations and proprietary limited companies.

SMEs Compete director Danny Meyer says small and medium enterprises (SMEs) faced “the good, the bad and the ugly” this year.

Meyer highlights an increase in Namibian entrepreneurs.

“This small leap of faith is how economies develop from the bottom up,” he says.

He says an unfriendly environment seems to plague SMEs, referring to the “heavy-handedness of officials enforcing rules and regulations on SMEs from how they operate their enterprises to the lack of urgency in dealing with and resolving issues that affected SMEs”.

Meyer hopes 2025 will be a great year for the economy as more people start their own businesses.

Businessman and Paragon Group executive director Desmond Amunyela says the aviation industry has seen remarkable improvement, particularly in passenger services, with performance and passenger experience being elevated to higher standards.

He says 2025 promises to be transformative for Namibia with president-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

“She brings a renewed sense of optimism for a more prosperous Namibia. We look forward to a Namibia that prioritises its youth, establishes a robust national core cadre development pool and strategically defines its role within the global order.”

Amunyela says more women-focused policies should be implemented to uplift women and empower local entities that promote innovation, foster skill development and provide opportunities.

“I hope Namibia will deepen its commitment to supporting local businesses, ensuring they are not only included in the national agenda, but are also positioned as key drivers of the economy,” he says.

THE MEDIA

As the business sector continued to adapt to evolving economic conditions, the media played a crucial role in shaping public perception, providing vital information and ensuring transparency.

The media was tasked to inform the world of Geingob’s death, as well as effectively disseminate information about this year’s controversial elections.

Namibia’s status of having the freest press on the continent took a dip, while state media was critcised for suspending senior journalists.

Media ombudsman John Nakuta says he was generally satisfied with the media’s performance in 2024.

“Especially when one uses the media monitoring project for the recently conducted presidential and National Assembly elections as a yardstick. Our project revealed that the media covered all political parties and candidates in a neutral and unbiased manner, “ he says.

Nakuta says even smaller political parties received significant coverage.

He does, however, say the ruling party proportionately received higher volumes of media coverage this year – especially from state-owned media houses.

“This brings into sharp focus the issue of equitable access to state-owned media”.

Nakuta also addresses concerns around the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), saying the institution must address the election results issue as envisaged by the Electoral Act.

“The Electoral Act empowers the ECN to regulate equitable access to state-owned media.

They haven’t yet made such regulations,” he says.

He highlights the registration of the Namibia Media Professionals Union (Nampu) as progressive.

“This is most certainly a great achievement for the media workers in the country and the media fraternity in general,” Nakuta says.

GREEN HYDROGEN

While the media spotlighted political shifts and electoral processes, the focus also turned towards Namibia’s emerging industries.

Earlier this month, The Namibian unpacked the Green Hydrogen Monitor – Namibia’s blueprint for green hydrogen.

This saw the establishment of various partnerships and new players in the game.

Even with the blueprint, many have questioned green hydrogen’s viability, financial risk and benefit to the country.

However, Namibia Green Hydrogen Programme spokesperson Jona Musheko says 2024 has been an exciting year for the country’s green hydrogen sector.

“To date, the sector has attracted green hydrogen project investments worth N$1.6 billion and secured investment commitments exceeding N$3.5 billion.

“As various green hydrogen projects advance toward Final Investment Decisions in 2025, it is important to emphasise that Namibia is not merely producing green hydrogen for export in its rawest form,” he says.

Musheko says green hydrogen could lead to the development of other industries, such as processing iron ore into direct reduced iron and supporting synthetic fuel production.

He says green hydrogen investments also contribute to other areas, such as infrastructure development, water supply and road networks.

CRIME

While the country made strides in emerging sectors like green hydrogen, the ongoing challenges in law enforcement remained.

Police inspector general Joseph Shikongo bemoaned the issue of decreasing manpower in 2024, telling The Namibian they were faced with staff retiring every day.

“We have issues of staff turnover and recruitment takes too long.

Training new police officers takes between six to 10 months”.

On the other hand, the police chief celebrated his department’s handling of the general elections this year.

Shikongo says the police aim to recruit 2 000 police officers next year.

He says they also plan to procure more vehicles.

“Last year we had 117 vehicles, this year we had 146 vehicles. We plan on doubling the number next year,” he says.

SPORT

On the sporting front, Namibians celebrated notable successes in both local and international competitions.

One of Geingob’s last social media posts was congratulating the Brave Warriors for reaching the round of 16 at the African Cup of Nations 2023 edition in Ivory Coast this year.

Namibians filled up the city of Windhoek at various sport events to watch as Collin Benjamin made history by being the first coach to take the national men’s team to the knockout phase of the competition.

Football, however, was not without its challenges this year.

According to the executive director of sport, youth and national service, Erastus Haitengela, the relationship between the government and the football administration is not satisfactory yet.

“We need them to start giving us a proper budget in advance so we can secure funding from the finance ministry,” he says.

Chief executive of Cricket Namibia (CN) Johan Muller says 2024 was an exceptional year for cricket in Namibia.

“ . . . none bigger than our development programmes, the way we reached the people of Namibia and provided access for even more children to be able to play,” he says.

Muller says CN is preparing to host two world cups.

POLITICS TAKES NEW SHAPE

While sport brought moments of unity and pride to the nation, Namibia’s political landscape underwent significant shifts.

Analysts dubbed the 2024 presidential and National Assembly elections as “the worst elections ever conducted”.

While the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) and the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) continue to challenge the elections’ results, the country elected its first woman president.

Namibia has also gained a new official opposition party, the IPC, and smaller parties seemed to have faded into oblivion.

The events also saw a man trying his luck at public service for about 20 years finally making it to the parliament.

National Democratic Party (NDP) president Martin Lukato garnered a seat for himself and his party in parliament next year.

“The NDP party shook the Namibian general election and the world at large for the first time since the party was formed in 2003,” Lukato says.

“I’m applauding The Namibian for being transparent in covering all political party events, including that of the NDP to educate and inform our nation and beyond,” Lukato says.

He says the nation must wait for transformative action to be taken when he will be in the house next year.

“I will always be a servant of people,” Lukato says.

Another shift in the political landscape came in the form of the performance of Job Amupanda and his Affirmative Repositioning party.

He got himself a ticket to parliament along with five other party members.

Amupanda says it will take time before the “old guard and those still stuck in old formulas see and accept these changes.”

The Presidency also highlighted the difficult start to this year.

“The year 2024, which is passing into history, was difficult for the Presidency and the Namibian people following the unfortunate passing of president Hage Geingob

As a nation, we pulled through that difficult chapter in the capable hands of president Nangolo Mbumba and vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah,” presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari said this week.

He also listed Mbumba’s activities since his appointment.

“President Mbumba hit the ground running and has been able to give renewed impetus to priority areas, including green energy, agriculture, genocide negotiations and infrastructure development.

A number of road infrastructure projects were completed,” he said.

Hengari said the office, as well as Mbumba are ready for yet another smooth transition come March.

“President Nangolo Mbumba is ready to pass on leadership to a new generation. It is the end of a cycle for freedom fighters who went into exile in the 1960s.

“President Mbumba, who gave six decades of his life to serving Namibians, is the last of that generation.

“The president is excited to hand over the Presidency to the first female head of state of our republic.

President Mbumba said that he entered office with tears, but will leave the Presidency a happy man passing the mantle of power to her excellency Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah,” he said.