Justicia Shipena
The Cabinet has placed a moratorium on official funerals from 16 June 2025 to 31 March 2026.
The move allows the government to review the current criteria and processes for granting such honours.
Minister of information and communication technology Emma Theofelus announced the decision on Thursday, following the 11th Cabinet meeting.
“This moratorium will remain in place while a detailed review is conducted on how official funerals are awarded,” she said.
Theofelus said the suspension does not affect the President’s constitutional powers to confer national honours.
“The moratorium does not infringe on Article 32(3)(h) of the Namibian Constitution, nor on the powers granted under the National Honours Act of 2012,” she added.
Calls for a moratorium date back to 2021, when political commentators urged the government to take action as funeral costs began to rise, largely due to COVID-19-related deaths.
That year, the government overspent its funeral budget by N$5 million.
To guide the review process, Cabinet approved the formation of a committee with no more than seven members.
The prime minister, in consultation with the minister of defence and veterans affairs, the presidency, and the attorney general, will propose the committee’s members and terms of reference for Cabinet approval.
In April this year, prime minister Elijah Ngurare revealed that state and official funerals cost taxpayers N$38.4 million during the 2024/2025 financial year.
The office of the prime minister alone spent N$39.8 million on 38 funerals, Independence Day, and Heroes Day celebrations, using funds from its N$1.1 billion budget.
Former cabinet minister Helmut Angula said the move appears aimed at cutting costs but may create issues of fairness.
“It’s a positive issue, but obviously we cannot say it’s the right thing to do at the right time at this time, but the fact of the matter is probably the government is cutting costs,” he said.
He warned that the timing may be difficult, given the ageing generation of national figures.
“All of the general funders and political funders have reached the life expectancy. So we are bound to die many, but that is really a cost to the state,” he said.
Angula said the public might struggle to understand the decision, especially during ongoing social and economic hardship.
“The ordinary people maybe not understand why government should be… I need so, amid so many difficulties that we have in terms of unemployment, in terms of cost of living, and in terms of lack of essential things like medicine in hospitals. I think you can’t really blame the government, but the only thing is where it’s going to be challenging. Will that be across the board? That’s the problem,” he said.
He questioned whether the moratorium would apply to highly respected figures. “There are certain people who are really, really prominent. Really prominent. If one of them dies today, are you saying you also cannot afford him health? It’s a challenge,” he said.
He suggested the government should have outlined specific categories to avoid being caught off guard.
“Maybe it should have been wise to make some categories. So that it’s very clear, so that you don’t get caught up between a rock and a hard place tomorrow. If you are challenged, someone so important died, and then you say, Yeah, we have a ban. And you cannot lift it on that day for the one person unless you have prior some kind of condition. I say it’s challenging. It’s costly.”
In 2023, the government spent N$2.1 million on 23 state funerals during the 2022/2023 financial year.
In February this year, it spent about N$30 million to transport founding president Sam Nujoma’s body to seven regions.
Each of the 14 regions received N$500,000 to organise his memorial services.
Other state funerals included N$3 million for Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, N$2 million for former minister Rosalia Nghidinwa, and N$1.5 million for Kunene governor Angelika Muharukua.
Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah welcomed the move and said the policy needs to be reviewed to ensure efficient spending.
“Reduce the spending by March or more, but I think that it is time that that policy must be reviewed to make sure that we utilise it in an efficient, efficient manner, because if you look at how many people qualified for state funerals, you know, funerals, and there are quite a lot of expenses there,” he said.
“So, you know, somehow it will help reduce, although not by a lot, but it’s the right step in the right direction, I think.”
Kamwanyah said while some families may be disappointed, the government must make decisions based on available resources.
“Well, they will not. Some will be disappointed, but we have to live within the means that we have. You cannot go to war with the soldiers that you don’t have. So, you go to war with the soldiers that you have,” he said.
He stressed that the country must choose between costly ceremonies and addressing real needs.
“So, which means we can only have state funerals based on the resources that we have. So, we have limited resources. We have pressing issues in terms of socio-economic challenges. So, we have to prioritise. Do we want to sponsor state funerals, which take a lot of money, or do we want to prioritise the issue of education, addressing poverty, and other socio-economic challenges? So, we have to make a choice. And for me, the better choice is that we prioritise the key challenges that we are faced with,” Kamwanyah said.
