KEY NOTE ADDRESS
BY HIS EXCELLENCY HAGE G GEINGOB,
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF
NAMIBIA
NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WEALTH
REDISTRIBUTION AND POVERTY
ERADICATION
26 OCTOBER 2015
SAFARI HOTEL CONFERENCE CENTRE
WINDHOEK

Honorable Bishop Zephania Kameeta, Minister of
Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare,

Honorable Ministers and Deputy Ministers here
present,

Honorable Members of Parliament,

Madam Anita Kiki Gbeho, UN Resident Coordinator,

Honorable Laura McLoud-Katjirua, Governor of the
Khomas Region and other Regional Governors,

His Worship the Mayor of the City of Windhoek, and
other Mayors here present

Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Members of Traditional Authorities;

Religious Leaders;

Members of the Media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am honored to deliver the keynote address at the opening
of the National Conference on Wealth Redistribution and
Poverty Eradication. This conference is yet another mile
stone closer to realization of the Vision of our Namibian
House namely: a prosperous House; a House free of
poverty; a House where all members, irrespective of race,
color or creed, live together in harmony; and a House where
no one shall be deprived of basic amenities and the required
capabilities to help themselves.
2
I would like to state again that I have heard the outcry of
the poor in Namibia. That is why at the onset of my
Presidency I declared full-scale war on poverty in Namibia.
In addition, I have outlined in my maiden State of Nation
Address in detail the main tenets of my philosophy on the
war against poverty. You are encourage to read from time
to time my State of Nation address for a better
understanding of the overarching principle policy stances
that I have articulated on the war against poverty. In the
remainder of my statement, I will from time to time refer to
specific points from the State of Nation Address to buttress
salient aspects with respect to the war against poverty.
Poverty is the flip side of wealth. Therefore, poverty and
wealth
creation
and
the
distribution
thereof
are
interwoven. It is for this reason that I indicated in my State
of Nation address that I will task the Minister of Poverty
Eradication and Social Welfare to organize National
Conference of Wealth Distribution and Poverty Eradication.
This conference is now taking place here today. The
expected outcome of this conference, as noted in my State
of Nation Address should be the production of blue print on
how to reduce and eventually eradicate poverty from the
map of Namibia.
Director of Ceremonies
3
During the past seven months, since my inauguration as
President, I have used every opportunity to unpack my
Dream or Vision for Namibia. You will recall that in my
maiden State of Nation Address I unveiled the notion of the
Namibian House. In short my Vision for Namibia is to build
on the legacy of my predecessors, founding President
Comrade Sam Nujoma and second President Comrade
Hifikipunye Pohamba. These two distinguished sons of the
Namibian
soil
have
done
a
great
job
to
ensure
reconciliation, peace, security and stability in our Republic.
However, it was also acknowledged that while these are
critical pre-conditions for development, our people do not
eat good democracy, our people do not eat good
governance and our people do not eat stability. I am aware
of the social deficits that the majority of the members of
the Namibian House have to deal with every day.
My task, therefore, is to bring prosperity to all Namibians. I
intend to do so, by building on the strong foundation of our
Namibian House, by rallying all members of House Namibia,
in the spirit of Harambee, to address wealth distribution
and eradication of poverty. It will be teamwork and not a
one-person show. I, therefore, call upon all of us to hold
hand and pull together in the same direction.
Director of Ceremonies,
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The Vision of the Namibian House has reverberated across
the length and breadth of our Republic. During town hall
meetings and at other occasions, one sense that Namibians
from all walks of life have bought into the Vision of our
Namibian House. Where-ever one goes, people of Namibia
preach the “gospel” of poverty reduction, inclusivity,
Harambee and one Namibia one Nation. We, therefore,
have a strong-shared Vision, which is the most important
ingredient to win this newly defined war. Our founding
President during one of the bitter moments of our liberation
struggle noted, “a United People fighting together for a
common cause, shall never be defeated”. Following the
establishment of a shared Vision in the fight against
poverty we, therefore, have every reason to believe that we
shall defeat this enemy.
Director of Ceremonies
As we are getting ready to go to the battleground to fight
the scourge of poverty there are a number of important
things that we should be aware of.
Firstly, we have to understand the enemy we are dealing
with. Never underestimate your enemy. In my maiden
speech at the United Nations, I borrowed from Nobel price
5
winning economist Amartya Sen who said, “poverty is not
just about income”. Indeed if it were the case, the war on
poverty would have been easy, because all one had to do
would be to give some form of monetary income to each
member of the Namibian House. In a simplistic sense this is
what proponents of the Basic Income Grant are arguing for.
Give N$100 to each Namibia, and poverty in Namibia will be
eradicated. If only it was that simple. Amartya Sen goes a
step further defining poverty as follows “poverty is about
the deprivation of basic capabilities of human beings”. He
further
postulates
that
deprivation
of
these
basic
capabilities will manifest themselves in poor outcomes with
respect to education, health and other developmental
indicators.
Director of Ceremonies
From the poverty definition of Amartya Sen, that I
subscribe to, it becomes clear that poverty eradication is a
complex matter. It, therefore, needs a holistic approach to
overcome. That is why I have always argued that war
against poverty and the quest for emancipation must be
multifaceted war, which we will fight on many fronts, using
a myriad of methods at our disposal.
The first step in the fight against poverty is the recognition
that all Namibians deserve a dignified life. A dignified life
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includes decent employment, shelter, water, sanitation,
education and access to health care. This will require the
input of Government, as well as employers. Government is
close to finalizing the legal framework to reduce the income
gap. What is also required is a mental framework where
Namibian employers empathize with and remunerate their
employees appropriately. What is required is that all
Namibians treat each other with dignity and respect and
that all Namibians play their role in uplifting fellow
Namibians. This sharing mindset in individuals will go along
way in making sure that no Namibian is left out.
We need to use all weapons in the arsenal in the fight
against poverty. Some of these weapons we already use
and include an array of social grants. However, to
comprehensively defeat poverty, we need to create
economic opportunities for our people, by growing the
economy in an inclusive manner and enhancing the
capabilities of all Namibians to fully participate in the
economy and in society.
With respect to social grants, research by our own National
Statistics Agency has shown how effective our current
social grants are in reducing poverty. While all grants
tested have shown positive impact on poverty reduction,
the old age pension grant in particular showed stellar
results. That is why we have immediately increased the old
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age pension grant by some 66 percent in this financial year
alone, with further increases up to N$1,200 factored into
the current Medium Term Expenditure Framework.
It is not only our social grants that are effective in reducing
poverty. Research by the World Bank has shown that the
Namibian budget is indeed pro poor. This is in part because
of the generous social grants, but also because of our tax
system that is generally progressive in nature. In other
words, the more one earns, the more tax one pays, while
those who earn less then N$50,000 per year are exempted
from paying income tax. It is also because of the zero rating
of VAT on certain items consumed by the poorest of the
poor. Going forward, Government will introduce a solidarity
tax in the next budget that will call on each income making
Namibian above a certain threshold to make a contribution
towards a fund that will be earmarked for poverty
eradication activities. Another form of solidarity tax under
consideration would be to entice owners of companies to
dilute
shareholding
to
include
workers,
thereby
redistributing more of company income downward instead
of upward as is the case when shareholding is concentrated
in the hands of a few.
Secondly, after having understood the complexity of the
enemy that we face, and the need to approach it holistically
and in a multifaceted manner, it is important to understand
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that poverty cannot be eradicated overnight. Wars are
never over in one day. Our immediate aim, therefore, will
be to significantly reduce poverty over the medium term.
Within the next few months we will quantify exactly by how
many percentage points we aim to reduce poverty. In the
longer term, say within the next ten years we should be
able to eradicate poverty. The global goal is to eradicate
poverty by 2030. In Namibia we say, 2030 is too far. We
would like to beat the global deadline by a few years. I
believe that if we all pull together, we should be able to
beat the global deadline by 5 years, therefore, achieving our
goal by 2025.
One immediate measure that we will deploy in the fight
against poverty will be the establishment of food banks in
all parts of Namibia. The idea here is to bring as soon as
possible a halt to hunger poverty in Namibia, especially in
urban areas, where there is no access to productive land. In
the Namibian House no child should go hungry. In this
connection, our Cuban friends, who fought with us during
the liberation struggle will soon be in Namibia to assist with
the modalities of setting up of the Namibian food bank.
At a high level the food bank will operate along the
following
lines:
It
will
be
organized
along
street
committees or clusters of streets, where young unemployed
youth will be engaged to play a critical role in the
9
distribution of food to qualifying families. In turn young
unemployed youth will get a minimal income for the work
done, and by so doing the notion of free money will be
dispelled. The Food Bank will not be solely Government
driven, but we expect high private sector contribution and
a culture of voluntarism by all Namibians. In this
connection, I have challenged commercial farmers to
donate on a yearly basis at least two head of cattle to the
food bank. The responses I received to date have been
overwhelming indicating that Namibians understand that
we will only eradicate poverty of we work together. Cattle
donated by commercial farmers and others will be used to
establish centralized abattoirs from where fresh meat will
the made available, either free of charge or at a minimal fee
to the most vulnerable. The Fisheries Ministries will also
play a key role through allocation of fish quotas to the Food
Bank.
I believe that the Food Bank with the assistance of our
Cuban friends and with the contribution of all Namibians is
something we could get off the ground quickly and stem
one element of poverty, which is hunger. In addition to
deploying unemployed youth in the food banks, I have also
requested that between 30,000 and 50,000 hectares in the
Mangetti area be availed for agricultural related youth
enterprise activities. About N$50 million will be made
available this year alone to get this activity of the ground.
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I would like to underscore that the Food Bank will not, as
some people may think, substitute work and create a
culture of dependency. Instead it is aimed at assisting the
highly vulnerable citizens whose food security is under
imminent threat. The Government will implement measures
to ensure that within the communities, only the most
vulnerable are assisted. This assistance will also be
accompanied with initiatives to make such vulnerable
members more independent and able to provide for
themselves.
Director of Ceremonies
The War on Poverty can and should never be a Government
issue. It is a war that the entire Namibian Nation will have
to participate in. In this regard, the role and contribution of
each and every Namibia, no matter how small or how large
cannot be overemphasized. There is the saying that says,
“Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for
yourself by giving it away to others” It is in this spirit that
I have decided to set aside 20 percent of my salary towards
the war on poverty. I know that many salary drawers
already contribute immensely to the poverty reduction in
their own extended households. Be it by providing food,
accommodation or paying schools fees. It is something I
also do as a father and uncle. However, the idea of pledging
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on top of that to someone outside the family, a third nonrelated person, is something that I would like to promote.
It is really not about how much one can give, but it is about
the principle, and one can always give in non-monetary
form. We must allow the spirit of Harambee to manifest
itself for the good of all Namibians. We must succeed as One
Namibia, One Nation.
Director of Ceremonies
It is true that Namibia is a rich country by many measures.
However, it is not entirely true that Namibia is as rich as
portrayed by some. To put in perspective, even if there was
no skewed income distribution, Namibia’s per capita
income in US dollars would only be about 15 percent of the
per capita income of the United States of America.
Nevertheless, it remains true that we have a distribution
issue in Namibia, and a small middle class. However, the
Namibian middle class is not extremely rich by international
comparisons. Even some of the so-called “fat cats” as we
refer to them in Namibia do not compare favorably in the
world and even on the continent. There are many
individuals, or industrialists on the continent that make
more money than their Government. That type of situation
does not exist in Namibia. As well as this, the Namibian
Government is also not rich, and has limited resources. At
the same time there are many social deficit that are
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competing for these limited resources. In fact many of the
competing needs are poverty related. Be it requests for
more hospitals, clinics, health centers, access to proper
education or marketable skills, they are all crucial in the
fight against poverty. We will, therefore tackle poverty
from all fronts, through safety nets, access to quality
education, and by creating jobs and growing the economy.
I have stated it before, and I believe it with everything in
me, that the Namibian people are not lazy. The Namibian
people want to work. Our people excel when given the
opportunity. A crucial aspect of the war on poverty will,
therefore, be to create economic and social mobility
opportunities for our people. In this connection, I continue
to be convinced that education remains the greatest
equalizer. We removed school fees at primary level in 2012,
and this year we are going to introduce free secondary
school education. At the moment, large subsidies to our
local tertiary education institutions translate into the State
covering up to 80 percent of university costs. University
students also benefit from scholarships through the
Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund. Going forward,
we should move away from a scholarship system, where
students have to pay back loans to a grant system that will
enable students to, after graduation, immediately build up
wealth portfolios instead of graduating into indebtedness.
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Director of Ceremonies
Land and Housing are two important topics in the fight
against poverty. It is something that I hope will be
adequately debated at this conference. I would like to
reaffirm my personal commitment to addressing land
reform
and
provision
of
affordable
housing
to
all
Namibians. That is why I have met with leaders of the
Affirmative Repositioning Group. That is why Government
has embarked upon a massive urban land clearing exercise,
which ultimately should lead to more affordable houses for
more people especially at the lower income end of the
market. In this regard, Government has taken a principal
decision to subsidize qualifying local authorities to address
the housing backlog in Namibia. The Ministry of Land
Reform had been tasked to fast track land reform.
Director of Ceremonies
We must be aware that as we are getting ready to go to the
battleground the global economic landscape has taken a
turn for the worse. In its latest economic outlook the IMF
projects that all regions in the world will experience slower
growth this year and next year. At home, we are aware of
the many looming challenges, such as energy deficit,
drought and water scarcity, climate change, and youth
unemployment that will put a strain on the fiscus. This will
14
complicate our war against poverty, but should not detract
us from the set goal.
Director of Ceremonies
I would like to conclude by saying a few words on the way
forward.
Firstly, as I tried to elucidate, the fight against poverty will
not be easy. The enemy is formidable. We need a consistent
and coherent approach and if we are not careful we might
end up running around like headless chickens in this
important war. It will be important that we use all weapons
to our disposal and it will be important that our plans talk
to each other. It is for this reason, that in consultation with
Bishop Kameeta, it was decided that, henceforth, the
Ministry of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare will
resort under the Presidency. This will enable the Ministry to
fully play its coordinating function in the war against
poverty. It will also enable the Ministry to leverage to the
fullest extent on other ministries, and receive the required
backstop from the highest level.
Secondly, I would like to announce that we have started the
process of developing a detailed plan in the war against
15
poverty. This plan, which will incorporate findings of this
conference, will have clear goals, critical success factors,
targets, actions, timelines and responsibilities. The plan,
which will come into effect 1 April 2016, will be aligned to
the next MTEF to ensure that it is adequately resourced.
I wish to end with a quotation from Jim Wallis a social
activist who said that “… the best test of a nation’s
righteousness is how it treats the poorest and most
vulnerable in its midst.” Let us, therefore, rise to this
challenge, and treat our fellow brothers and sisters with
mutual respect and care, irrespective of standing in society.
Let us all join hands to ensure we win the fight against
poverty.
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