We moving on Up

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Over the heroes day long weekend I spent some time in katutura and had a tour of an informal settlement known as Havana 6. The experience got me thinking Why do people migrate from the rural area and move to town only to stay in shacks? And what is the government of Namibia doing to address the need of people migrating to Windhoek.

  Now to my knowledge recently the government has passed two new acts of legislation the Labor Amendment  act and the flexible land Tenure act, which for me clearly show that the government is not making long term strategies in the interest of its people living in informal settlements.

http://www.nbc.na/

Why I say this is that the land act in the long run will benefit the rich. Here is why I think that; in reality the people will be able to organize claim land and have title deeds; Yeah for them. Now these same people will now have aces to loans and use the land/house as surety. I am confident that a high number of people will default and loss the land and end up in the balance sheets of Banks. Hate it or love it that is what will happen.

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Now the new labor act is a mess on its own. To me it’s designed to make it hard to get a casual work but when you do get casual work you are protected which is ok, but now comes to the employer this will definitely increase the cost of labor. The clause that allows for the presumption of indefinite employment is going to be abused by employers that I can guarantee, how you ask? You will have to pay me to tell how that’s intellectual property.

   

Now back to my first question why move from the rural area. Well my underlying thought is based two key qualitative variables Hope and Consumerism. On the issues of consumerism people migrate because they come from subsistence farming which make it hard to have access to consumer goods like cell phones, Kentucky fried chicken, toys for kids blah blah. Now hope comes in the sense that there is chance of better life with the supposition of proximity to health care, good teachers, and personal empowerment as in there voice will be heard in the city.

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  Now Namibia as of at 2009 has 235 informal settlementsapprox. 135,000 household and approx population of 540,000. And the latest census shows this has increased. Will the trend further hurt Namibia when it comes to the geni coefficient score?

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So I have been reading a whole lot of blogs and have decided to start my own blog  about my experiences, opinions, and news updates on Namibia. Naturally my first post will be on  my general view of Namibia.

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I came to Windhoek in Feb 2010 it seems just like yesterday, in retrospect it  has been a great learning experience for me. Namibia aka the land of the brave is not well known by many people, in other the words the friends in my circles before I came to Namibia did not know much about the place as well. Its a city a have grown to love, and has allowed me to grow as a person.

Windhoek on the other end is nothing like any African city I have been too.  It’s Very similar to Gaborone in many ways but totally different from cities in East Africa. First thing you notice in Windhoek is that its super clean and there not that many people around so maybe that’s why its easy to keep clean. Even the informal settlements to me are relatively clean big ups to the municipality in their efforts to keep the city clean. 

  

http://www.racafrica.co.uk/namibia_photos.htm

The taller the buildings the bigger the dreams.  Clearly South African Bankers and Insurance companies have the biggest dreams in Windhoek.  Windhoek gets very busy the first week of the month then activity goes back to snail pace. The 10% rich benefit the most as majority people in Windhoek depend on SALARY! that’s why I think Namibia sucks when it comes to wealth distribution and the entrepreneurial spirit among youth is almost known existent! This for me is an opportunity to take advantage of .

http://www.peterbennett.co.uk

                                                                            I like to think of Namibia as a 10^th province of South Africa. Every shopping mall in Windhoek looks like any random shopping mall in South Africa especially Gauteng area. 

You can use the South African Rand to buy anything in Namibia and the Namibian dollar does not get the same privilege in South Africa. So the Namibian dollar is a currency to make its people feel like the own a currency and an illusion of economic independence.

I want to talk about the culture shocked I experienced when I first came to Windhoek but I think that will have to be a whole post on its own but for now this post will serve as my general view of Namibia as of today.