Faculty of Commerce, Management and Law

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Accessing government information in Namibia as a human right issue
(University of Namibia, 2015) Nakuta, John; Mnubi-Mchombu, Chiku
There is general consensus that access to information is indispensable for a functional democracy. It is for this reason that access to information has been recognised and guaranteed as a fundamental human right in various international, regional and national instruments. The right to access to information is not explicitly guaranteed in the Namibian Constitution but is claimable through article 144 of since Namibia acceded and/or ratified various international human rights instruments which provide for this right. This article evaluates the question as to whether access to information is regarded as a human rights issue in Namibia. In determining this, the paper analysed the findings of the pilot study of the baseline study on human rights in Namibia with that of the main study with a specific focus on the theme dealing with access to information. Both studies found that it is almost as easy as it is difficult to access government information in Namibia. Both studies also show that elderly respondents and those with no formal education found it more difficult to access government information. Both studies show that the media was considered to be the main source of government policies, programmes and services. A mere 4 percent of the respondents in both studies indicated that they use libraries as a source for accessing public information. Distance to government departments and rude members of staff/poor service delivery were listed as the main barriers to accessing public information. Respondents in the pilot study listed outdated website content as their third major barrier, whereas respondents in the main study singled out too much bureaucracy as their third highest impediment to government information. The article asserts that the current situation whereby obtaining government information is at the discretion and disposition of civil servants is untenable and inconsistent with the right to access to information. The paper will explore how Namibians, from all walks of life, access human rights information. The paper is based on research which took place in Windhoek, Namibia in April 2012. The various aspects explored include access to government information and channels used to access information including the mass media. The final part of the paper will investigate barriers to accessing government information. Some recommendations will be made on how to improve access to government information in Namibia.
Accountability and democracy
(Idasa., 2012) Blaauw, Lesley
Adoption and utilisation of workplace e-learning practices in the public sector organisations: A systematic review
(Journal of learning for developement, 2023) Serema, Marguerite Margie; Shihomeka, Sadrag P.; Shalyefu, Rakel Kavena
The e-learning concept is increasingly receiving attention in education butthere seems to be inadequate guidance in developing a formal programme for implementing e-learning, especially in the public sector. Hence, this study focuses on aggregating information on the adoption and utilisation of e-learning in the public sector and attempting the development of a conceptual model for understanding workplace e-learning implementation. A systematic search of the literature was conducted to collect all the literature addressing the adoption and utilisation of e-learning in the public sector. This review brought to light key factors that influence the adoption and utilisation of e-learning amongst public sector employees, including attitude, satisfaction, behaviour intention, continuance intention, or behaviour to use e-learning. The adoption and utilisation of e-learning in the public sector requires a carefully thought-through and evidence-based approach, especially the development of the e-learning programme
The African Union (AU), the African Youth Commission (AYC) and the Pan-African Youth Union (PYU): Sabotaging or bureaucratizing the youth?
(2018) Amupanda, Job S.
There now exists overwhelming evidence that many African states are gerontocracies - states wherein the leadership is way older than the average age of the population. Whereas these discussions were previously attributed to external observers of African politics, particularly observers from the western world, this question of and on African leadership has now gained domestic root. The youth of the continent has since started demanding their places at various decision-making tables within their nation states. This has led to generational antagonism of which some have led to youth-led uprisings. While there are several analyses at the state level, there has been little analysis of the relationship between the African Union (AU) and the youth of the continent. This text takes the analysis to the continental level. The text does not only concern a continental analysis, it’s most important contribution is to add new developments that have not appeared in much of the contemporary literature on African development. To buttress these perspectives, the text looks at the relationship between the AU and two continental youth organizations: the PYU (Pan-African Youth Union) and the AYC (African Youth Commission). It reveals that at the time of writing, Africa was the only continent without a recognized continental youth body. The text is aimed at provoking further questions and discussions on the AU’s youth discourse with this daring question: sabotaging or bureaucratizing youth?
Agriculture and manufacturing sector growth in Namibia during the period 1981 to 2012: A granger causality test
(2014) Siboleka, Milner; Nyambe, Jacob M.; Osterkamp, Rigmar
Namibia became independent in 1990. Since then, the democratic government has pursued various development policy tools to empower Namibians economically. The 4th National Development Plan identified four strategic economic growth enhancing activities, namely agriculture, manufacturing, logistics and tourism. Agriculture remains the largest employer while manufacturing, logistics and tourism are growing, but slowly. This paper is premised on investigating whether or not there is a causal and long term relationship between agriculture and manufacturing sector growth over the period 1981-2012. Ascertaining the direction of the relationship is part of the objectives. Analytical methods that were used include unit root, correlation test and a Granger Causality model. With the use of time series data, the results confirmed stationarity of the data. With 31 observations, no causal relationships were established between agriculture and manufacturing in Namibia. Appropriate policy interventions are required to influence how the two sectors should benefit from each other. Such holds potential for both sustained employment creation opportunities and economic growth in Namibia.
An evaluation of mobile banking as a tool for enhancing financial inclusion in Namibia: A case of FNB Namibia
(University of Namibia, 2020) Van Wyk, Desery; Woyo, Elisha
Financial inclusion is a multi-dimensional concept of financial development that enables affordable access through availability and equality of opportunities to access financial services, especially among previously disadvantaged social groups. Namibia has one of the most developed financial systems in Africa, and is blessed with a well run payment system. Yet, Namibia has failed to fully leverage its mobile penetration rate of 97% to deploy financial solutions that can provide an interoperable platform for financial inclusion. As such, this study uses data from a population of the more than 1,2 million mobile banking customers on the FNB Cell phone banking and E wallet platforms in the period July 2012 to December 2019 (89 months). However, the sample size was restricted by privacy concerns, which saw the study using 74% (66/89 months) of data in the period July 2012 to December 2017 (66 months). The study used a cross-sectional time-series econometric analysis to test Granger causality relationships between mobile banking and financial inclusion. The study found that at the 95% level of confidence, there were significant mean differences (MD) between the unbanked and banked platforms, in terms of value-added services, cash out ratios and financial inclusion channels on the mobile banking platforms. The study also found that among the four identified financial inclusion channels, only Profit Incentives and Financial Penetration channels could be enhanced with mobile banking. While, the other two channels: Financial Access and Account Ownership, influenced the rate of mobile phone adoption. The study concludes that the charge-based value added services provide the critical intermediation link as to how profit incentives can enhance both mobile banking services and financial inclusion in Namibia. The study recommends that regulators should provide profitability incentives to the banks and other e-money service-providers, as profitable mobile banking platforms can be used as effective tools for enhancing financial inclusion of the unbanked population
Analysing the exchange rate volatility relative to trade balance: The case of SACU countries
(2020) Haansende, Christine M.; Nyambe, Jacob M.
The term exchange rate volatility is widely used in the financial market. The exchange rate is determined in the foreign exchange market, which is said to be the largest market in the world and it trades in financial assets. The main focus of this study is to analyse the nature of the relationship between exchange rate and trade balance in the selected member states of the SACU region in which the selected countries are Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa. This study uses time series data from the period of 1986 to 2016. The Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model, the impulse response functions and variance decompositions are used in the analysis. Results show that there is a short-run relationship between exchange rate volatility and trade balance. It was found that there is a positive and negative impact between these two variables, with high volatility. Furthermore, this study recommends all Central Banks in the SACU region to intervene in order to mitigate exchange rate volatility.
An analysis of the effectiveness of inflation targeting monetary policy framework in South Africa
(2019) Makuvaza, Leonard; Nyambe, Jacob M.; Sheefeni, Johannes P.
This study is premised on investigating the effectiveness of inflation targeting in South Africa. The methods of analysis include the Vector Autoregressive model (VAR), the unit root test and cointegration test. The analysis was conducted with the use of EViews version 9. The findings from the study revealed that the response of inflation is not consistent with the Taylor rule hence increases in the repo rate meant to reduce inflation actually increase the inflationary pressures in the economy. This is due to the composition of the Consumer Price Index. Housing constitutes the largest weight on the CPI hence this has an impact on how the Repo rate affects inflation. The autoregression model of inflation showed that the sum of the coefficients is less than one (0.965) showing that inflation targeting has effectively reduced the persistence of inflation in South Africa. Thus monetary framework in South Africa seems to be effective and should thus be advanced for wider economic benefit.
Analyzing the agricultural livelihood strategic components in the Zambezi region, Namibia
(2018) Nyambe, Jacob M.; Belete, A.
While urban dwelling is increasingly becoming common across the world, in Namibia, the population settlement pattern is skewed towards rural areas and so is the case for the Zambezi region. The main livelihood strategy is agriculture, which is subsistence in nature and practiced on communal land. This paper investigates changes in the agricultural livelihood strategy in the rural Zambezi. The work is premised around the hypothesis that the agricultural livelihood strategy has improved since 2002 to 2008. Parametric sampling approach in the form of stratified sampling technique based on environmental systems of being flood prone was used to yield a sample size of 253 respondents. SPSS was used in analyzing the data and in the process conventional descriptive statistics and a Chi-Square method were applied. The results show that households with members who were between 5 to 6 in number owned more land than households with more or few members. The majority of respondents are between the ages 36 to 60 years of age. Of the total respondents, 61% were married. The majority of respondents in the category of those with no education at all making up 35% are women. At Junior and Secondary education levels, women dominate men. Male respondents (at 5%) slightly outclass women respondents in terms of having attended tertiary education. Furthermore, the findings proved otherwise in favour of the alternative hypothesis that changes to the livelihoods have occurred but in an adverse manner. The declining livestock numbers from 53% to 47% of the total cattle numbers and crop harvests among the marginalized households require some long-term policy interventions. Introducing small irrigation projects for rural farming households holds potential for increased crop outputs when there is inadequate rainfall. Other than opting for sustainable livelihoods, anything less is unlikely to be inappropriate for a rural farming household in the Zambezi region.
The ascendency of Esther Utjiua Muinjangue to the NUDO presidency in Namibia: A challenge to patriarchy?
(2019) Amupanda, Job S.
There will be a female presidential candidate running for office in 2019 Namibian Presidential Elections. This has never happened in the 29 years of independence and was made possible by a small political party, the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) which elected Ester Esther Utjiua Muinjangue as its President –making her the first woman leader of a political party in Namibia. This text records and introduces this historic phenomenon in the literature on Namibian politics. It deals with the nature of NUDO and the circumstances that led to Muinjangue ascending to the party presidency. While accepting that history has been made, it cautions against ‘over-celebration’, for patriarchy has not disappeared merely because a woman has ascended to a position of power. The text concludes that Muinjangue occupies a moral and strategic position to mount a meaningful challenge to patriarchy and bring about meaningful political participation for women.
Assessing climate risk to improve incomes of rural farming households in the Caprivi region, Namibia
(2013) Nyambe, Jacob M.; Belete, A.
While the scientific world blames the severity of climate risk factors on climate change, the assessment of its effects on a rural household remains understudied. The objective of this study is to assess climate risk factors on rural households that practices small-scale agriculture with the aim of improving the incomes of farming households. The paper used cross-sectional data from a sample of 253 respondents who represented households that were based in the flood prone areas of the Caprivi region. Invoking a multivariate regression model revealed that climate risk factors especially flood exacerbates the opportunity cost for obtaining a good harvest and thus exposed farming households to income risk and food insecurity. In view of these findings, old age pension and retirement annuities, the value of livestock and that of food aid proved vital to the income and food security needs of rural households in the study area. Investing in early warning systems and publicizing likely climate risk scenarios may be helpful to rural households in preparing to secure their income sources and thus reducing chances of hunger.
Assessment of factors to receiving food aid in the Caprivi region of Namibia: A factor analysis approach
(Academic Journals, 2012) Nyambe, Jacob M.; Belete, A.
Now than ever before, rural communities in the Caprivi region of Namibia are relying more on food aid. This shows that something has gone wrong with their sources of livelihood. This paper seeks to reveal the factors that predispose one to receive food aid. A sample size of 253 respondents was randomly selected from Kabbe, Katima Rural and Linyanti Constituencies. The three constituencies constitute the flood plains. Factor analysis was used to empirically identify patterns of relationships among observed factors. The results obtained show that five factor components, namely, capacity to farm, climate risk awareness, household economic status, past economic opportunities, and household labour with eigenvalues of ≥ 1 are invaluable to eligibility to food aid. These factors have proven to be responsible for about 68% of the total variance and are thus, vital for predisposing rural households to receiving food aid in the study area. By addressing and taking measures on the variables of the factor components that expose households to food aid, rural households in the study area would most likely stay away from relying on food aid.
Changing public policy on expenditure in Namibia after independence and its impact on healthcare and education
(International Journal of Public Policy, 2021) Shafuda, Christopher Pomwene; De, Utpal Kumar
In this paper, we examined whether changes in fiscal measures through increasing government expenditure on education and healthcare services adopted after independence has made significant impact on the welfare of the Namibian people. Time series data from Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education of Government of Namibia, Namibia Statistics Agency and World Bank during the period between 1980 and 2015 has been used for the purpose of analysis. A comparison of growth in such expenditures, GDP and other human development indicators has been made between the pre- and post-independence periods. Finally, impacts of changes in healthcare and education expenditure on reduction in mortality, increase in life expectancy at birth, rising literacy and growth of people acquiring higher/technical education, etc. have been examined by using regression analysis. It is revealed that the Namibian people are better off now as compared to the pre-independence era. However, policy changes adopted at the time of independence has not been highly successful in transforming life of the Namibian people as expected. There are still a lot of scopes for the improvement of fiscal management in the country.
Community service orders as part of juducial discretion in the criminal justice system
(Namibian Educational Research Association (NERA), 2011) Amoo, Samuel K.
State responsibility includes inter alia the promulgation and provision of rules and institutions to maintain peace and security and protect the integrity of the State. Compliance with or obedience to social norms is a sine qua non for the achievement of this objective. The history of penology teaches that the search for compliance with rules and norms has resulted in the imposition of a variety of punishments which include incarceration. Whilst incarceration has traditionally been recognized in the penology of the criminal justice systems worldwide as both a punishment and a crime prevention strategy, research, however, greatly discounts this theory and reformists of criminal justice systems all over the world have advocated community-based corrections as an alternative crime prevention strategy in certain instances. The imposition of community service orders or correctional supervision is within the general criminal jurisdiction of the Courts but there is the need for legislative intervention to provide for the additional legal regime required for the complete implementation of the programme in Namibia. This paper investigates the merits of community-based corrections as an alternative crime prevention strategy and argues for its incorporation in the criminal justice system of Namibia.
Constitutionalism and principles of economic order. Examining Namibia’s ‘mixed economy’ and the economic asylum of neoliberalism
(2017) Amupanda, Job S.
While a number of studies exist on the causes and impact of the inequality, poverty and unemployment in which the majority of Namibians are trapped, very few, if any, of these studies examine the role and place of the constitution in maintaining the status quo. Most of the studies, even those on the constitution, do not focus on the question of political economy and how it relates to the constitution. A constitution can be understood as a set of fundamental laws determining the orientation (values and principles), structure and power of the state. To understand the economic system of a given state, one ought to start by studying the constitution. In Namibia the picture is not as clear as it should be. Theory and practice, on the question of political economy, do not gel. The text analyses the constitutional principle of ‘mixed economy’ with a view to understanding – and explaining – the triumph of neoliberalism in Namibia. It concludes that given the principle of ‘mixed economy’ is not clearly defined – an unsound principle according to this text – there is a need to re-examine the constitution of the Republic of Namibia to address the question of political economy.
A contrast of the benefits and challenges of public–private partnerships in land delivery and low income housing initiatives for the City of Windhoek
(Journal of Business Administration and Social Studies, 2023) Maseke, Bernardus Franco
The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of private–public partnerships on land delivery for housing development. A triangulation research design was used whereby both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in parallel and integrated as information in the final interpretation of the overall results. A sample size of 80 respondents was statically determined and randomly selected from a target population of 120 employees and beneficiaries of private–public partnerships using probability sampling. The study findings revealed that the City of Windhoek’s private–public partnerships model and housing initiatives for low-income earners fell short, in that to date, only a handful of those from the grassroots have benefited. The drawn conclusions were that, although the Triple-P model and housing initiatives were adopted to bridge the ever-widening gap of housing shortage, a need exists to create a community savings interest-earning fund that could enable low-income groups to acquire land and leverage additional government support to build houses. The study concluded that for effective execution of the private–public partnership initiative, monitoring, feedback, and evaluation of the project milestones should be implemented and consistently executed.
The coronavirus and social justice in Namibia
(Politikon, 2021) Marenga, Ralph V.; Amupanda, Job S.
Over the past 30 years, the successive SWAPO regimes that governed Namibia always followed a neoliberal policy path. Co-existing with the neoliberal elites are thousands of Namibians living in squalors in a country that has been declared as one of the most unequal nations on the face of the earth. Over the years, social justice activists never gave up the fight for a just and equitable society. They fought for better shelter, housing, economic equality, land, water, and sanitation, free tertiary education, and income grants to cushion the poor. The successive SWAPO regimes have been indifferent. Interestingly, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the government ended up implementing the very initiatives it rejected over the years. This text explores several social justice struggles over the years and demonstrates how these were implemented by the government as a Covid-19 response in 2020. It thus argues that social justice is possible and the state has demonstrated its capacity in implementing these programs. It then calls on social justice activists to use the Covid-19 currency to ensure that social justice becomes central in a post-Covid-19 economic order.
Customer satisfaction level among online banking customers of First National Bank Namibia (FNB)
(2022) Unengu, Viola K.; Maseke, Bernardus; De Menezes, Joaquim P.
Technological advancements have led to conception of new services for the benefit of customer, with online banking being one of such services. The online banking services have been introduced by banks to assist the customers in availing host of banking services comfortably, from any location and without any problems. However, the customer perceptions and attitudes with respect to the adoption of new technologies determine their satisfaction levels. Therefore, the present research was aimed at investigating the customer views regarding satisfaction level towards online banking. The study was conducted among customers (n=30) of FNB Namibia whom use online banking. The main objectives of the study were, to analyse the factors influencing customer’s adoption to online banking in Namibia, to identify the factors limiting the use of online banking by Namibians and to determine the factors that impact customer’s satisfaction level in online banking. In this study the researcher used qualitative research methodology, primary data was used due to the nature of the variable to be generated and the type of population characteristics, there were questionnaires to be answered by the respondents which was based on the research objectives. The study concludes that online banking services at FNB Namibia has a positive impact on customer satisfaction level, as it offers quality services to the benefit of the customers such as convenience, time saving, efficiency, speed and round-the clock availability of online banking services. Namibia, as a country, also stands to benefit from increased online banking usage by virtue of the improved financial inclusion in the economy as regards ease of access, availability and, usage of the formal financial system.
Denk Xiaoping and the Chinese developmental state: Lessons for Namibia
(2016) Amupanda, Job S.
At the centre of China's radical economic, social and technological transformation was the statesman Deng Xiaoping. Africa-China relations generally date back to the days of African struggles against colonialism and apartheid with some scholars tracing even earlier contacts between Chinese and Africans. The relations continued after independence and institutionalised into platforms such as Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Despite the historical ties and platforms such as FOCAC, many African countries failed to emulate China's successful trajectory from a colony to a successful developmental state and world economic powerhouse. Although having historical and presently good relations with China, Namibia failed to use its relations with China to propel the country to economic greatness. Namibia not only has high levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality, the country has one of the highest records of economic inequality in the whole world. This article provides a descriptive account of the Chinese developmental state and draws possible lessons for Namibia to emulate.
Determinants of farmers’ decisions to cultivate crops in the Caprivi region of Namibia: A logistics analysis
(2012) Nyambe, Jacob M.; Belete, A.
Annually, rural farmers in the Caprivi region are faced with making difficult choices of whether or not to cultivate their crop fields. The choice farmers make is influenced by the presence of wild animals, climate risk factors, and prospects of future food aid-rollouts. This study investigates key identified determinants to rural farmers’ decisions to cultivate their crop fields amidst the three mentioned influencers. Using a structured questionnaire, 253 respondents were interviewed on a face to face basis. Random sampling was used in selecting the respondents. The respondents resided in the flood plains where they had access to food aid for a period of 5 years. The central livelihood strategy for the respondents is agriculture. A logistics model was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the household food bill, age of the head of the household, and the value and availability of food aid were essential determinants of a rural farmer’s decision to cultivate his/her crop field. It also came out that rolling out food aid to rural farmers for a period of ≤ 5 years has little effect on their crop production commitments. A longer period may become a disincentive to crop farming in favor of food aid.

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