Economics
Namibia's Wealth Redistribution Plan May Benefit Elite Minority
- Empowerment law seeks to redress legacy of white-minority rule
- Chamber of Commerce wants focus on economic ownership scrapped
Properties stand on the city skyline seen in this aerial view of the capital city of Windhoek, Namibia, on Wednesday, June 14, 2017.
Photographer: Simon Dawson/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A plan by Namibia, among the world’s most economically unequal nations, to better distribute wealth among its citizens may end up the way neighboring South Africa’s has -- benefiting an elite minority.
The nation is working on a law that will require all businesses to be at least a quarter owned by “racially disadvantaged people.” While only about 6 percent of Namibia’s 2.5 million citizens are white, they own most enterprises. That’s a legacy of white-minority rule South Africa imposed when it controlled Namibia from World War I to 1990, with black people being disenfranchised and displaced.