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Namibia: Need for Business With a Conscience
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
COLUMN
18 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008
Windhoek
Full marks must go to the President of the Namibia Employers' Federation (NEF), Vekuii Rukoro, who this week berated those who ignored or remained silent on the Zimbabwe crisis, saying that it was high time the economic muscle of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the continent as a whole acted against President Robert Mugabe.
At a time when SADC leadership largely aligns itself with South African President Thabo Mbeki's so-called 'quiet diplomacy' as a means of solving the Zimbabwe crisis, and when the voices raised in protest against the foot-dragging with the release of that country's now long-outstanding election results have been few and far between, Rukoro's words came as a refreshing change.
Importantly too, he warned his audience, when speaking at the NEF's annual general meeting this week, of the link between politics and economics, an issue most seem prepared to overlook. He did not mince his words when he said: "How can we attract investment to SADC when we as a region are in the business of aiding a dictatorship through our silence? Shame on us as Africa and as Africans, as we have really failed our continent, our people - as leaders of both politics and business." He also promised to immediately correspond and liaise with various regional and continental business bodies on a course of action regarding the Zimbabwe issue. Rukoro emphasised the important role of business in bringing about change, and gave account of how business leaders in South Africa finally made the decision to stop bankrolling the apartheid regime, an action which assisted the demise of that inhuman system.
"As business we should stop fooling ourselves. There is no such thing as business on one side and politics on the other," he said. "Politics played a part," (in the collapse of apartheid) he confirmed, but more crucially when the private sector said enough was enough, this was a key agent in hastening change. Rukoro's words raise, in more general terms, the important role that business can play in changing corrupt and despotic systems. More often than not (and in Namibia's struggle this was most certainly the case) the private sector tended to collaborate with the powers that were at the time, rather than flex their economic muscle to demand change to the system.
He argued for 'business with a conscience', something to which this newspaper would wholeheartedly subscribe. Too often business ignores the socio-economic circumstances in any given situation. To turn our backs on the suffering people of Zimbabwe is simply not acceptable, and does not, at the end of the day as Rukoro pointed out, make either economic or political good sense.
Business must put back, and a lot do, but many expect their pound of flesh in terms of publicity for charitable causes. Ultimately it is preferable that they give because they believe it is the right thing to do and expect nothing in return. Certainly the economic impacts of the Zimbabwe crisis are already felt throughout the region. Not only is the economy in that particular country in ruins, but it has had, and will continue to have, a knock-on effect on other countries in the sub-continent. Witness already the wave of Zimbabwean refugees who have flooded neighbouring South Africa and other neighbours in serious proportions. Our governments in the region and further afield, and more particularly, here in Namibia itself, simply cannot keep quiet any longer on what is happening in Zimbabwe.
It is, at the end of the day, absolutely unacceptable to maintain that they are making a contribution by essentially helping to maintain the status quo in Zimbabwe, and the longevity of a worn-out dictator who has no place in Africa's hierarchy of leadership any longer. So far, our own Government has let us down on their 'softly, softly' approach towards Mugabe. We are therefore very encouraged that one of our business leaders has finally seen fit to put this issue squarely on our agenda, and remind the business community, in Namibia and elsewhere, to take a stand against an intolerable situation than can be accommodated no longer.
We express the hope that Rukoro's viewpoint will find further resonance, not only in Namibia, but further afield, and that as a result, the change that is so badly needed will come to Zimbabwe and the long-suffering people of that country.
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And once this happens, it is necessary that business continue to support the rehabilitation of an African country that was a former economic powerhouse.
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