BEE Scams Have Run Their Course

Tom Alweendo

Mines minister Tom Alweendo and his government colleagues must face the reality that investors and Namibians with no political connections have reached a point where talk of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) share ownership is now seen for what it is – a scam for the self-enrichment of the ruling elite and their cronies.

Uranium shares tumbled this week following reports quoting Alweendo saying the government will henceforth actively take up shareholding in mining and oil companies ostensibly to benefit previously disadvantaged Namibians.

Given how many BEE scams have gone awry in the past, investors must have sensed another scheme being cooked up to line the pockets of those close to power.

Alweendo and his comrades are ramping up populist statements amid oil discoveries to boost their chances during the next elections.

Politicians need to get rid of their obsession with shareholding for the so-called previously disadvantaged.

The sooner, the better.

More than 30 years since independence, broad-based black economic empowerment should have been pursued through training and ensuring Namibians are hired to run major institutions and across key industries.

But politicians are seemingly not interested, because patronage will not work through skills and competencies.

Even shareholding could have been targeted at employees, but that’s not useful to politicians and their cronies.

Tone down the populist BEE schemes and concentrate on policies that uplift the majority and the vulnerable.

Continue with populism and see what investors did with the likes of Zimbabwe and South Africa.

You can’t have it both ways and then cry foul afterwards.

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