President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s inauguration of the Namibia Public Private Forum (NamPPF) marks an important milestone in the country’s ongoing attempt to bridge one of the most persistent gaps in our national development story, the divide between government intent and business execution.
Described by the President as a “partnership of purpose,” the Forum aspires to create a unified platform where government, business, and other stakeholders can collaborate meaningfully to accelerate inclusive growth and job creation. The ambition is laudable, and the language inspiring.
But if Namibia is to turn rhetoric into reality, the Forum must move beyond eloquent speeches and strategic documents. It must become, as the President rightly stated, “a living instrument of collaboration” — one whose impact can be felt not in boardrooms or press releases, but in the homes and livelihoods of ordinary Namibians.
There is no doubt that Namibia needs a mechanism like the NamPPF. For too long, the relationship between the public and private sectors has been characterized by mistrust, red tape, and missed opportunities.
The public sector often views business with suspicion, equating profit with exploitation. The private sector, in turn, has long lamented bureaucracy, policy uncertainty, and delayed government payments.
If effectively managed, the Forum could become a space for genuine partnership, a place where policy meets practice, and where both sectors work side by side to solve shared problems: youth unemployment, slow industrialization, and an overdependence on imports and raw material exports.
President Nandi-Ndaitwah’s reminder that progress will not be measured by “the number of workshops and meetings we attend” but by “tangible change felt by the people” is a powerful and necessary caution.
Namibia has attended too many summits that produced too few results. The NamPPF must not become another well-branded event that fades into irrelevance after the photographs are taken and the applause dies down.
A bridge must lead somewhere
For the Forum to be meaningful, it must not only bridge dialogue, it must bridge delivery. The test will be in implementation and accountability. Who will drive the agenda? Who will measure progress? And who will answer when outcomes fall short?
The danger with such national platforms is that they can easily become ceremonial gatherings, spaces where the same stakeholders recycle old promises. To avoid this, the NamPPF should establish clear timelines, measurable targets, and transparent monitoring mechanisms.
If the Forum claims to be a cornerstone of Namibia’s economic transformation, then it must produce annual public reports showing what has been achieved, from the number of jobs created, to the volume of private investment facilitated, to the specific barriers removed for small and medium enterprises.
The President’s goal of creating 500 000 jobs in five years is bold but attainable, if supported by targeted interventions in key sectors such as agriculture, logistics, renewable energy, housing, and digital services. The NamPPF must therefore not only set broad objectives but also define sector-specific deliverables:
- How many manufacturing partnerships were brokered through the Forum?
- How many public-private projects have reached financial close?
- How many start-ups were linked to procurement opportunities or funding mechanisms?
Without such metrics, the Forum risks being another noble idea lost to Namibia’s growing library of unfulfilled policy ambitions.
Avoiding the trap of business as usual
The President’s call to “shift decisively from business as usual” could not be more timely. For decades, Namibia’s economic landscape has been dominated by a small number of established players, both in business and politics, leaving little room for innovation, youth participation, or regional inclusion.
If the NamPPF is to be the vehicle of “inclusive economic transformation”, it must be deliberately open to new voices, not just CEOs and permanent secretaries, but young entrepreneurs, small business owners, cooperatives, and innovators in the informal sector.
Economic transformation will not come from another memorandum of understanding between government and big business alone. It will come from unlocking the potential of the thousands of Namibians who wake up every day with ideas but lack capital, mentorship, or market access. The Forum should be their platform too, not an exclusive club for elites.
Moreover, government must be prepared to listen and act. The private sector has long complained about slow approvals, policy inconsistency, and delayed decision-making. The President’s words of unity and cooperation will only resonate if bureaucrats at all levels translate them into responsiveness and efficiency. A forum is only as effective as the willingness of its participants to implement its resolutions.
Trust is the currency of any partnership. To sustain trust, the NamPPF must operate with total transparency. Every decision, project, and public-private agreement emerging from it must be subject to public scrutiny. The days of closed-door deals and vague communiqués must end.
Namibia’s citizens deserve to see where investments are going, who benefits, and how those benefits translate into jobs, services, and opportunities. Without this, the Forum could be seen as yet another platform for political posturing and business lobbying, a perception that would erode its legitimacy before it even takes root.
To build confidence, the NamPPF should publish its deliberations, resolutions, and progress indicators regularly. It should also engage independent evaluators, including civil society and academia, to assess its performance objectively.
From dialogue to delivery
Namibia’s economic challenges are not caused by a lack of dialogue. We have had enough dialogues to fill an entire ministry. The problem has been the failure to translate talk into transformation.
This is where the NamPPF will be judged. As the President said, “Our true success will be judged not by what divides us, but by what unites us.” Unity, however, must be functional, not rhetorical. It must produce results that can be measured and traced.
If the Forum becomes a space of shared responsibility and measurable action — where ideas lead to investment, investment leads to jobs, and jobs lead to dignity, then it will truly deserve the title of “partnership of purpose.”
But if it becomes another bureaucratic echo chamber, one that meets quarterly, issues statements, and celebrates process over progress, then it will fail not only the government and business community, but the very citizens whose hope it now carries.
The Windhoek Observer welcomes the creation of the NamPPF with cautious optimism. The intent is right. The timing is urgent. The President’s vision is clear. But the measure of success will be in execution, evaluation, and endurance.
Namibia cannot afford another forum that produces more paperwork than progress. The NamPPF must deliver real outcomes, jobs, investments, reforms, that citizens can see, touch, and trust. Only then will it stand as proof that when the public and private sectors work together with one heart and one mind, prosperity for all is not just a slogan, but a national reality.
