It has been two and a half years, since I have last been to Windhoek. And boy this city is growing and changing. And with local estimates, Windhoek’s population is going to double in ten to fifteen years, from 450.000 to about a million inhabitants.
That is, if there will not be another big drought period, like in the early nineties. If such a long-term drought occurs again, water prices will rise exponentially and therefore eliminate urbanization and rural depopulation. Of course, the latter can contribute greatly to the development of rural regions in Namibia, but growth in Namibia’s most important industries and services supply, nearly all located in larger cities like Windhoek, will stall tremendously, which might even pull the country into a recession one day.
Nevertheless, the population of Namibia is becoming more diverse, as China and other South-Asian countries “export” their people to Africa, mostly to work for even less money than the local work force is being paid. The main reason for this is the abundance of resources in Africa. With low developed industries in many countries in Africa, plenty of resources are still up for grabs. And China knows how to buy it’s way into African governments.
Allow me to elaborate. A few years ago, about 600 Chinese entered Namibia with one and the same passport. That means, 600 Chinese nationals had the exact same identity. It took the Namibian ministry of home affairs, also known as ministry of magic around here, about half a year to notice the discrepancy. Nowadays, an estimated 50.000 Chinese live in Namibia, having surpassed the number of indigenous San people in 2006 already. We only have to keep in mind that Namibia only has a total population of approximately 2,1 million people.
As you are reading this, they are still busy completing the new state palace, which cost around N$ 600 million, round about € 60 million. The estimated price was about a fifth at first. A North Korean company designed the new presidential residency and also paid for a part of the costs. But with literacy rates still at 88,5 % and tertiary education only available to 12% of pupils graduating from secondary school, one might wonder if there were more important things for the state to invest into.
A Malaysian textile company also caused furore, as it was involved in a joint-venture with the municipality of Windhoek as well as the ministry of trade and commerce of Namibia. The government bodies provided the Malaysian company called Ramatex with a production facility on a terrain of 7,6 ha for a rental agreement over 99 years. In return, Ramatex was supposed to create and hold 4.000 jobs. However, Ramatex did not obtain the rights for the property at any point, but later violated the agreement by divesting the property to a third party. There were also claims for inhumane working conditions. The company went bankrupt in 2006. And the money invested into the company remains lost forever.
If there is one thing people should know first of all about Africa, before asking whether there are streets and cars available, it is that corruption is spelled with a capital C on the second largest continent on Earth.
The Germafrican 