Namibia still faces one of the highest income inequalities in the world. Many inhabitants still live in poverty with a bleak outlook on the future alongside a few who have accumulated extreme wealth. Despite the efforts and achievements after independence, food insecurity, malnutrition, overburdened and sometimes inefficient education and health systems, high unemployment rates and low levels of local economic development are still serious challenges. In the absence of economic security for the majority, precarious living conditions and poverty are still widespread.
At a time when Namibia is still rated as a highly unequal country with the third highest income
inequality in the world, there has been a declining interest in activism. Without people willing
to become agents of change, we cannot achieve the fundamental changes needed to build a
better and more equal society. The Economic and Social Justice (ESJT) therefore identified the
urgent need to build a new layer of younger activists to find solutions to inequality and secure a
brighter future for all Namibians.
The background: Shoprite’s relationship with unions: In Namibia, the South African retail giant Shoprite had recognition agreements with the Namibia Food and Allied Workers Union (NAFAU) and the Namibia Wholesale and Retail Workers Union (NWRWU) but ceased the deductions of union membership fees in 2014 because both unions significantly lost membership at the company’s stores. A third union, the Namibia Commercial, Catering, Food and Allied Workers Union (NACCAFWU) began organising at the company in 2014 and Shoprite allowed NACCAFU to represent the workers at its Rundu branch during disciplinary hearings in August 2015. Shoprite then seized the opportunity provided by a divided labour movement to side-line the unions altogether in 2015. The relationship between Shoprite and the unions is hostile.
This journal was formed by a group of academics and activists in 2020 with the aim of providing a space to critically engage with and contest the mainstream ideas that underpin the neoliberal global order. It is published by the Economic and Social Justice Trust and serves as an intellectual platform for social justice academics and activists in Namibia who want to critically question the neoliberal global order and search for alternatives. The journal aims to be a teaching and learning instrument for academics, teachers, students, workers, youth activists, policy makers and others who are willing to wage the struggle for social justice in Namibia.
The ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL JUSTICE TRUST (ESJT) was formed in 2012 by a group of activists to promote struggles for economic and social justice.
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