geonet%gn@cdp.uucp (10/08/89)
Unions Attack Privatisation of the Government Pension Fund
London 2 October 89 (NSC) -
The Namibia National Transport Union (NATAU), the Namibia
Public Workers Union (NAPWU), and the Namibia Teachers Union
(NANTU) have all made recent public statements attacking the
Administrator General's intention to privatise the government
pension scheme. The unions have described the privatisation
plan as calculated to destroy the financial basis of an
independent Namibia. They have also pointed out that it
contradicts a public undertaking by the Administrator General
not to privatise any of Namibia's assets.
The privatisation bill contains clauses that could
potentially remove some 1,2 billion Rand from the control of
the government of an independent Namibia in the estimation of
the Namibia Peace Plan Study and Contact Group. The size of
this potential capital outflow dwarfs the 780 million Rand
debt with which the newly elected government will be saddled
at independence by the South African regime.
White Namibian civil servants, who are estimated to be
eligible for 80% of the value of the fund, are likely to be
encouraged to leave Namibia once they have invested their
funds in South Africa. Because the bill allows individuals
the option of investing the Namibian government's
contribution as well as their own, a future government could
be so financially burdened that it will be unable to meet its
obligations towards its own citizens.
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Patt Haring | United Nations | Did u read
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