Namibia: President Nujoma's first two terms (1990-1999)

Updated September 2009

Following independence on the 21 March 1990 under President Sam Nujoma Namibia joined the family of nations, becoming a member of the United Nations, the organisation of African Unity, the Commonwealth, the Southern African Customs Union and the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (Saunders 2008, 828). Walvis Bay, critical for Namibia's economic development and independence, remained a South African possession and President Nujoma avowed that Walvis Bay would be liberated, while South Africa fortified the port and rejected its secession to Namibia; only in March 1994 was Walvis Bay transferred to Namibia (Evans 1990, 559-561; Freeman 1992, 31, 32; Transfer of Walvis Bay to Namibia Act 203 of 1994). In addition the economy and infrastructure were highly integrated with, and dependent on, that of South Africa which supplied 90% of its imports and received 70% to 80% of its exports (Freeman 1992, 26, 33). Moreover, the economy was geared to the production and export of primary commodities, leaving it highly vulnerable to fluctuations in volatile international commodity prices (Krugmann 2001, 33, 34). Thus, for instance, GDP growth in 1990 fell to 0.3% from 2.1% 1989, largely as the result of a rapid decline in uranium prices, for uranium made up 38% of Namibian exports (Iyanda 1999, 5; Krugmann 2001, 34).

The new government inherited a stagnating economy, so that in 1988 real GDP was lower than what it had been in 1977, real per capita income had declined by 23% between 1980 and 1990 and unemployment was over 33% at independence (Freeman 1992, 36). Prior to independence South Africa embarked on massive privatisations to deny capital and resources to the incoming government space for manoeuvre, while also facilitating massive private capital outflows from Namibia to South Africa (Krugmann 2001, 30). The South African government also bequeathed an inflated civil service and before independence handed out massive salary and job perks increases, so that 42% of the country's first budget was allocated to the civil service (Freeman 1992, 37).

Establishing security was an immediate priority. In the north the Angolan civil war subsided only gradually as bombings, kidnappings and incursions tapered off (Freeman 1992, 38). The north, where 60% of the population was concentrated, was thrown into deep recession by the withdrawal of the South African forces and their spending power; only 10% the returning exiles, 85% of whom resettled in the north from whence they had originally hailed, were able to find jobs by June 1990 (Freeman 1992, 41; Krugmann 2001, 19). A coup attempt by White extremist was suppressed in August 1990 and an attempt at secession by the Rehoboth Basters averted (Freeman 1992, 38). A unified Namibian Defence force was created with British assistance comprised equally of ex-guerrillas and Namibian recruited into South African military service (Freeman 1992, 38). The government embarked on a policy of reconciliation and ruled out prosecutions for human rights violations by either side during the liberation struggle (Freeman 1992, 38).

The Apartheid policies of the South African government created "a highly fragmented, stratified and dualistic society, polity and economy" that was characterised by massive inequality in wealth and income and widespread extreme poverty (Krugmann 2001, 8; Corbett, & Jones 2000,1). Whites, who were 5% of the population, earned 71% of national income, while the poorest 55% of the population earned 3% of GDP (Freeman 1992, 35). Land holding was also skewed, with 43% of land in the hands of around 4000 White farmers while 41% of the land was allocated to homelands for the African population of 1.2 million people (Corbett, & Jones 2000, 2). Government expenditure had been directed at providing services for wealthy Whites and these were concentrated in the urban areas, leading to massive racial disparities in health and education (Freeman 1992, 36; Corbett, & Jones 2000, 1). Within a framework of massive constraints engineered by the departing colonial power, the new democratically elected government was faced with an overwhelming task, "reviving and sustaining economic growth, improving human health, education, living conditions and equity have justifiably been Namibia's top policy priorities since Independence…" (Directorate of Environmental Affairs 2002, 4):

To revive the economy and generate the resources to fight poverty and reduce inequality, to mollify the fears of Whites and prevent an exodus of skills and to attract foreign capital the government laid aside its socialist rhetoric and adopted conservative economic policies while stressing national reconciliation and unity and reorientating state expenditure towards providing services for the poor (Freeman 1992, 37, 39). Strict fiscal discipline was followed and nationalisation of large foreign companies' assets was forsworn, but a new tax regime on mining was imposed to raise government revenue (Freeman 1992, 39). However, the expected flood of donor assistance from western governments did not materialise; foreign governments pledged only 44% of what Namibia requested and were then slow to make good their promises (Freeman 1992, 40). The Foreign Investment Act of 1990 was passed to provide investors with legal certainty and security for their investments and the Labour Act of 1992 provided a sound framework for resolving labour disputes so that strikes declined, while also abolishing racial discrimination in the workplace and securing unionisation and bargaining rights for workers (Iyanda 1999, 15). The policy was successful, for the decline in fixed investment as a proportion of GDP from 20% in 1990 to 16% in 1991 was arrested and recovered to fluctuate between 20% and 22% between 1992 and 1996 (IMF 1997). The stock of direct foreign investment rose by 33% between 1990 and 1996, rising by an annual average of over 11% between 1993 and 1996, though investments remained concentrated in the primary sectors, especially mining and fishing, and little went to manufacturing (Iyanda 1999, 7, 8). The government invested significantly in the development of economic and social infrastructure, for between 1990 and 1994 and an annual average of 16% of government spending was capital expenditure (Directorate of Environmental Affairs 2002, 9).

Between 1990 and 1994 the real GDP grew at annual average of 3.9% and 3.6% between 1995 and 1999, but this masks large fluctuations in the first period such as a high of 8.5% in 1992 followed by a low of -2% as a result of a steep decline in diamond prices in 1993 (IMF 2008a; IMF 2007, 6). However, though population growth rates fell steadily, they nevertheless remained high so that real per capita income gains were slight. The population grew at 3.8% on average each year between 1991 and 1995 and 3% between 1976 and 2000 and per capita income only by annual average of 0.9% and 0.7% in the same periods (IMF 2008a). Unemployment declined from 33% in 1990 to 19% in 2002 but then rose to 19.5% in 1997 and then to 34.5% in 2000; throughout the period underemployment remained extensive (Freeman 1992, 36; IMF 2008b, 56).

The economy remained highly dependent on mining and agricultural production and export, but the share of mining's contribution to GDP dropped from an annual average of 22.7% between 1983 to 1990 to 11.9% between 1991 to 1998 and its share of export earnings from an annual average of 65% to 44% in the same periods (Krugmann 2001, 5, footnote 4). Mining remained in the hands of large foreign companies so that much of the profits earned were repatriated rather than reinvested in Namibia (Krugmann 2001, 34). In late 1990 Namibia was given preferential access to the European Community under the Lomé Convention enabling it to expand meat product production and exports (Krugmann 2001, 33). A number of initiatives to diversify the economy were undertaken. To stimulate the growth of the manufacturing sector and job creation, and to diversify manufacturing away from dependence on meat and fish processing, legislation was passed in 1995 to allow for the established export processing zones (EPZs), which provided incentives to industries that exported more than 70% of their output, and the government created an EPZ industrial park at Walvis Bay (Iyanda 1999, 6; IMF 1997, 9, 49). The gains from EPZs in the second half of the 1990s were modest, the manufacturing sector's share of GDP between 1992 and 1997 fluctuated between a high of 15.7% in 1993 and a low of 13.2% in 1996 (IMF 1999). In 1997 the beneficiation of diamonds was begun with the establishment of cutting and polishing operations (IMF 1997, 9; Krugmann 2001, 7).

Namibia's economy remained extremely open with imports forming 55% of GDP in 1999 and exports 45% (IMF 2005, 55). The economy also remained highly integrated with that of South Africa, for South Africa supplied 82% of Namibia's imports on average annually between 1993 and 1999 and received 35% of Namibia's exports in 1999 (IMF 1997, 91; IMF 2005, 78, 79). To facilitate regional economic integration and international trade, as well as stimulate the growth of Walvis Bay as a deep water port for Namibia's landlocked neighbours, the trans-Kalahari highway linking Walvis Bay with Gaborone was completed in 1998 and the trans-Caprivi highway linking the port with Lusaka in 1999, thus providing Botswana, Zambia and the DRC with quicker and cheaper access to markets in America and Europe (IMF 1997, 49; Walvis Bay Corridor Group Undated).

The government's commitment to reducing poverty and inequality through the expansion of state services to the poor was reflected from its first budget in 1990, where it allocated 41% of spending to healthcare, education and housing, three times that allocated by the South African administration in 1989 (Freeman 1992, 39). Since two-thirds of the population was concentrated in the rural areas and, because of past neglect, poverty is more widespread and acute in these areas, much of the government's social upliftment efforts were concentrated there (Corbett, & Jones 2000,1; Krugmann 2001, 8). Commitments to stimulate rural development in the depressed, but densely populated, rural north of the country through public spending were not immediately realised, but the vast bulk of foreign aid projects were channelled there instead to develop water, electricity, transport and communications infrastructure as well as improve education and healthcare (Freeman 1992, 42). Like other areas of government, at independence Namibia inherited an educational administration ethnically fragmented into 11 ministries so that the first tasked faced was their integration into one national ministry, while the South African curricula had to be replaced by ones appropriate to Namibia (Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture 2001, 2, 5). Schooling infrastructure was rapidly expanded between 1990 and 2000, three hundred new schools were established representing a 25% increase, and where primary level classroom shortages existed a two shift system was introduced, with two different sets of learners and teachers in the mornings and in the afternoons (Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture 2001, 6, 7). Pupil enrolment was expanded by 24% at primary level and 100.5% at secondary level (Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture 2001, 6).

Namibia's healthcare system at independence was similarly fragmented and skewed along racial and urban-rural lines and was orientated towards curative rather than preventive practices (Karlesky 2008, 124). Thus life expectancy for Whites was 69 years while that for Africans was 40 years and 20% of the country's doctors serviced the bulk of the population residing in the homelands which received only 15% of government health expenditure (Freeman 1992, 35, 36). From the beginning a primary healthcare model was adopted and resources were shifted as far as possible towards the rural poor in general and women in particular (Karlesky 2008, 124). By 2001 the number of care points was tripled compared with those available in 1981 and population access so greatly improved that by 2001 80% of the population lived within 10km of a healthcare centre (Karlesky 2008, 124).

However, initial advance in public health and well being were later wiped out and even reversed by the rapid progress of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, for the first HIV infection was reported in 1986, but only 10 years later, in 1996, AIDS was the largest cause of death (Ministry of Health and Social Services 2008, 7, 8; Zere et al 2007; IMF 2005, 4). Adult (aged 15-49 years) prevalence rates doubled from 5% in 1994 to 10% at the end of 1996 and then rose to 14.6% in 2001 (WHO 2008, 4). The government launched a medium term plan in 1992 aimed at curtailing new infections through public education, but when this proved to be ineffectual at arresting the plague a multi-sectoral body was created to mobilise all sections of Namibian society to formulate and implement a strategy to raise public awareness and bring about the behavioural changes necessary to halt the progress of HIV/Aids resulting in the adoption of a second medium term plan in 1999 (Ministry of Health and Social Services 2008, 9, 14). At independence less than 50% of the rural population had access to potable water, but by 2000 this had improved to about 70% and, similarly, only 10% of the rural and 85% of the urban populations had access to adequate sanitation, but by 2000 this had improved to 21% and 93% respectively (Directorate of Environmental Affairs 2002, 8).

Little progress was made in addressing the inequity in land distribution. Despite constitutional provisions that permitted land expropriation the government was committed to paying market related compensation, so the state did not have the resources to buy up large tracts of land (Melber 2005, 137). The Affirmative Action Loan Scheme (AALS) scheme, implemented in 1992, aimed at the empowerment of Africans in the commercial farming sector by providing subsidised credit to them to enable them to purchase White owned farms and most of the land that was subsequently acquired by Africans was through this scheme (van Donge et al 2005, 9, 14). The more expensive settlement scheme, to provide land for the landless poor, was less effective (van Donge et al 2005, 14). Despite election promises in 1994 and the passage of the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act of 1995, only 35 000 Africans had been settled on former White owned land by 2000 and the government came under increased pressure to increase its land reform efforts, but the President firmly rejected allowing land invasions in Namibia as were taking place in Zimbabwe (Saunders 2008, 830; van Donge et al 2005, 14; Krugmann 2001, 14, 15). In the former homelands, designate "communal lands", the enclosure of common land for private use on a large scale, especially in Ovamboland, further impoverished and disempowered the rural poor (Blackie 2000, 138, 139; Krugmann 2001, 14)

As a result of the government's commitment to decentralisation of administration to facilitate poverty reduction Regional Councils and local government councils were implemented (Corbett, & Jones 2000, 2). Elections for Regional Councils and local government were held 30 November to 3 December 1992 (see Regional Council and Local Authority Elections in 1992 for details). The election was important because second house of parliament, the National Council, was constituted from representatives elected by them. The main opposition DTA fared badly in election as a result of admissions by the South African government in 1991 that it had financed the party during the 1989 election, providing it with R100 million (Saunders 2008, 828; Freeman 1992, 26 end note 2).

The first national elections after independence were conducted on 4-5 December 1994 (see National Assembly and Presidential Elections in 1994 for details) Land reform legislation passed by National Assembly prior to 1994 election improved SWAPO's popularity (Saunders 2008, 828). President Nujoma won a resounding 76% of the vote in an election marked by a 76% turnout (see Presidential results) In the National Assembly SWAPO improved considerably on it's performance in 1989, winning 74% of the vote, while the opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance's (DTS) support declined to 21% (see National Assembly results). Three smaller parties won 5% of the vote and 4 seats between them while three others shared less than 1% of the vote and won no seats.

Tensions began to emerge within the ruling party when the 1997 SWAPO congress called for an amendment to the constitution to allow President Nujoma to stand for a third term as the country's president (Saunders 2008, 828). An amendment to the Constitution made in October 1998 that permitted him (but he alone) to run for a special third term in the 1999 presidential election was passed, despite universal opposition from the other parties (Saunders 2008, 830; Melber 2003, 18, 19). In 1998 a second round of Regional Council and local government elections were conducted, which were marked by low voter turnouts, and the electoral dominance of SWAPO was once more confirmed (see Local Authority Elections in 1998 and Regional Council Elections in 1998).

In August 1998 President Nujoma deployed 2000 troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo to support President Laurent Kabila against a rebellion in the east of the country (Saunders 2008, 829). Matters deteriorated internally, for from October 1998 about 2500 refugees fled from the Caprivi Strip into Botswana, alleging police harassment as a result of being linked to the secessionist Caprivi Liberation Movement (CLM), led by DTA President Muyongo whom the DTA subsequently disassociated itself from (Saunders 2008, 829; Melber 2003, 19). 14 leaders given refugees status by Botswana government in February 1999 and were resettled elsewhere and the other refuges were repatriated on guarantees from Namibia that there would be no reprisals against them (Saunders 2008, 829). In August 1999 an attack in Katima Mulilo by members of the self-styled Caprivi Liberation Army based in Zambia and supported by National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) led to the death of 12 people and the declaration of a temporary state of emergency by the President (Saunders 2008, 829; Melber 2003, 19). Allegations of brutality by Namibian soldiers were made and 120 people were arrested and charged with high treason (Saunders 2008, 829). Namibia's perceived support for the Angolan government by UNITA had been a source of tension since the resumption of the Angolan civil war in late 1992 that had led to the closure of parts of the border and an UNITA attack in 1993, but joint border patrols between Angola and Namibia provoked attacks on the Caprivi by UNITA in late 1999 that resulted in the deaths of more than 50 people by June 2000 (Saunders 2008, 82; Melber 2003, 199).

The high financial and social costs of Namibia's involvement in external conflicts, the high handed and autocratic use of presidential powers to deploy troops in the DRC added to the conflict within SWAPO that had emerged over the third term issue and in March 1999 the Congress of Democrats (CoD) was formed by Ben Ulenga who resigned from SWAPO (Krugmann 2001, 25; Melber 2003, 19; Saunders 2008, 830). On 30 November - 1 December 1999 Presidential and National Assembly elections were held in which voter turnout fell to 62% as compared with 76% in 1994 (see Presidential and National Assembly Elections 1999 for details). Nevertheless Nujoma marginally improved his performance to 77% the vote with the opposition vote split mainly between the CoD and DTA (see Presidential results). A similar pattern emerged in the National Assembly, with SWAPO taking 76 of the vote and the CoD and DTA taking 9.9% and 9.5% respectively (see National Assembly results). Two small parties won representation in the legislature while three other contesting parties did not. Thus the defection from SWAPO did not weaken the ruling party, but rather fractured and weakened the opposition (Melber 2003, 17).

References

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