Notwithstanding the efforts by Namibia’s Roads Authority to justify the shortlisting of seven foreign companies, after the prequalification phase for the 32 km road rehabilitation project between Karibib and Usakos (TR7/1) – which is financed by a loan by the German government through the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) – the Construction Industries Federation of Namibia (CIF) and the Metal and Allied Building Workers Union of Namibia (MANWU) have said that they are dismayed that the second phase of the tender for the road upgrade goes ahead.
“This is despite Namibian authorities and stakeholders being fully aware of the implications for the local construction sector. At the same time, the CIF and MANWU remain very concerned about the state of Namibia’s construction industry, and again recently engaged authorities, requesting that changes in the industry will take place immediately. With no meaningful reaction from the state, the CIF and MANWU now escalate efforts and take to the internet for the public to become more aware and for relevant authorities to hear them,” the organisation said in a statement.
The most recent attempts to engage authorities during the first two weeks of June 2023, included joint letters by the CIF and MANWU that had appealed to His Excellency, the President, Dr Hage Geingob, the Right Honourable Prime Minister, Dr Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, Honourable Mr John Mutorwa, Minister of Works and Transport, and other senior ministers of the cabinet.
“The Roads Authority was once again being approached jointly in writing be the CIF and MANWU, as well as the KFW and the German embassy in Windhoek. Other financing organisations have also received the correspondence, such as the African Development Bank. Attempts also included to make lawmakers further aware. As such, the speakers of both houses of the Namibian parliament, as well as the leader of respective opposition parties had been reached out to, in order to garner their support for the local construction sector.
“As government authorities and senior politicians were repeatedly lobbied over the years – in various ways – and yet, there being no concerted, strategic efforts made to support the local construction sector, the two member-based organisations, CIF and MANWU, representing both the employers and employees in the construction sector, have today, on Thursday, 22 June 2023, initiated an online peaceful protest to call for urgent changes in Namibia’s construction sector,” the organisations said.
The call for changes includes that the Namibian Government will commit itself and announce publicly the following:
- That the project for the road upgrade between Usakos and Karibib is cancelled immediately and re-advertised in smaller lots, and that the technical specifications be reviewed;
- that there will be a deliberate effort to engage majority Namibian-owned contractors on all infrastructure and building projects and that projects will be sized accordingly;
- that Government will play its part in creating an environment for decent work in the construction sector; i.e. ensuring that maximum employment opportunities are created for Namibian workers;
- that Government supports the “optimal development” of the construction sector where there is space for every-sized contractors: majority-Namibian-owned SMEs, majority Namibian-owned mid-sized contractors, majority Namibian-owned large-size contractors, and only then foreign contractors or non-majority Namibian-owned contractors;
- that joint ventures between majority Namibian-owned contractors must be given preference;
- that “tenderpreneurism” will not be permitted any further; and
- that Government commits itself to the establishment of construction council as soon as possible as it would be in the interest of both the private sector as well as the public sector.
Last weeky, the organisations launched a peaceful online protest on the CIF’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/CIFNam ) in the form of a competition, with the intent of creating further public awareness of the state of the construction sector and the lack of support the local industry receives from the Namibian government.
Bärbel Kirchner, chief executive officer of the CIF says: “Everyone is encouraged to enter the competition and upload their own protest poster and message in support of bona fide local civil and building contractors. It is really important that we support our own.
“This is for the maintenance of an important sector of Namibia’s economy and for the support of local construction and building businesses, as well as their employees and their families. Ultimately, it is for the survival of our own sector. We therefore call on everyone to support our campaign to go viral. It is impossible that our local contractors are being displaced when we have our own capacity”.
The online protest will take place in the form of a Facebook competition. Entrants are encouraged to use the hashtag #support_our_contractors. At the same time, the competition pages and any positive related comments can be liked and shared and relevant authorities can be tagged in this competition. Ideally, every peaceful protestor or entrant of the #support_our_contractors competition, tags the MANWU page on Facebook and tags the pages of other key authorities and stakeholders, including the personal pages of all relevant and associated civil servants and senior politicians. The competition will run until 21 July 2023.
Justina Jonas, secretary-general of MANWU says: “Both MANWU and CIF have tried just about everything to convince the authorities, but they are not hearing us. It is going on for far too long. Our workers are losing jobs because our local businesses do not have enough work. We talk and talk but no changes are happening.
“We are tired. Why should foreign companies get the work that our bona fide local contractors can do? There is no place for foreign contractors, except and only then when there really is no local capacity. How can you have foreign companies operate in the space where our own SMEs, our own mid-sized contractors and or own large-size contractors should operate. They infiltrate the Namibian construction sector at every level until there is not a single local contractor left.
“Truly, if we can to create jobs in our country, we must support our own businesses. Government should take the lead in supporting local businesses. Otherwise it appears that government is not taking this seriously at all”.
Entries to the competition will be judged by a panel, and winning entries will be awarded the status of “Biggest Supporter of the Namibian Construction Sector”. There will be no monetary rewards or any other rewards of financial value. Recognition of supporting the cause itself; i.e. supporting local, supporting Namibian, will imply loyalty to the Namibian vision, which will be celebrated.
Bärbel Kirchner says: “The CIF and MANWU strongly urge the Namibian Government to affect the proposed changes for the Namibian construction industry, in order not only to ensure its survival, maintaining and building of capacity in the sector, but also in the interest of the economy at large. Any form of public procurement should not only have development role in terms of the infrastructure and building development but also in view of creating employment and addressing poverty.
“The engagement of foreign contractors will not be able to achieve the same, and may even be in contradiction of existing policies of our Government, and will have disadvantageous macro-economic implications.”
The CIF and MANWU believe it is necessary to embark on this campaign of creating further awareness of the plight of the construction sector, as they feel that the current state of affairs affects not only those engaged in the construction sector but everyone that is affected by the state of the Namibian economy. The latter has a direct impact on employment and on the alleviation of poverty; and it is ultimately in the interest of anyone that is conscious of the government’s budget; i.e. the opportunity for the collection of revenue as well as the prioritisation of expenditure and potential future financial commitments.