Oshikango’s business prospects worsening

A DECLINE in cross-border trade between Angola and Namibia continues to affect business prospects at Oshikango.

The border town that was once a lucrative business destination, has now turned into a struggling ground for businesses, with many hardly managing to break even.

The decline of business activities at the town has also cast a dim light on the future of hundreds of people employed there, who stand to lose their jobs.

The discontinuation of the use of the US dollar in of the Angolan economy has been highlighted as one of the main contributors to the decline of economic activities at Oshikango.

Thomas Koneka Indji, the chairperson of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI)’s northern branch, said cross-border trade at Oshikango had declined due to a number of constraints which are hampering the ability of business people to export goods to Angola, which was the mainstay of the town’s economy.

“Business at Oshikango is going down every day. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you are involved in, business is very bad, and people are obviously losing their jobs because if you cannot sell, you obviously have to let go of your employees, according to our assessment,” he added.

Indji said the NCCI has since 2013 organised a number of business indabas in an effort to revive the economy of the northern border town, but such efforts yielded no results.

“It’s also an indication that with the adverse business conditions during the past three years, more investors are losing faith and getting ready to pull out, but we need investors to grow our economy,” he observed.

The introduction of the Angolan kwanza as a means to revive the economy at the border town also failed to resolve the ongoing crisis, and it was discontinued in its infancy.

Anna Stephanus, a local fruit vendor on the streets of Oshikango, said life is getting harder by the day as business activities at the town keep declining.

“There is no business here. People are not buying because many of them do not have money. Even Angolan nationals who come here are struggling; they don’t have money to support us as they used to back in the days. If the government does not act fast, things might really turn for the worse,” she stressed.

Oshikango was once a thriving northern border town which attracted foreigners like Chinese, Indian, South African, Portuguese, Pakistani and Iranian traders, amongst others, who set up shops at the border town with ventures that primarily targeted the Angolan market.

“If you come to Oshikango today, you will find many, many trucks queuing up at the border. Based on that, one would think that Oshikango is very busy, but these trucks are in transit with goods not from Oshikango, but from South Africa,” Indji noted.

According to an assessment carried out by the NCCI northern region, which is the business voice in the north, Chinese nationals who once dominated trade at the border town are now also abandoning Oshikango to establish shops in villages inside Angola.

“The Angolan economy is recovering following years of civil war, and many businesses have relocated across the border. Abandoned buildings testify to the decline of business at Oshikango,” Indji stated.