Encountering post-settler state dynamics : understanding Namibia’s housing challenges and state housing policy

Abstract

The urbanisation and housing crisis in contemporary Namibia has been the subject of intense debates in recent years. Much of these debates have focused on the post-independence government, which has been blamed for inadequate policies and lack of political to provide adequate houses for its citizens. Many observers saw the housing crisis as yet another instance of corruption and nepotism within the government and property development institutions in the country. Such a narrative has come to dominate both public and private spaces, leading to social agitation and the formation of a social movement – the Affirmative Reposition (AR), which has positioned itself as people‘ saviour. This thesis has analysed the urbanisation and housing crisis, and attempts to take the discussion beyond this simplistic perspective, thus filling a gap in housing debates in the country by focusing on the bigger picture. It questions the ‗state is to blame‘ narrative for being reductive – reducing all post-independence development problems to the state. By questioning the current narrative on the housing crisis, the analysis adopted a broad historical and political economy approach, and views the housing provision crisis as having both historical and post-independence roots. The central aim of the thesis was therefore to offer a counter narrative to the foregoing narrative on the housing crisis by offering a deeper analysis of both historical and postindependence factors that contributed to the crisis, and to link the crisis to the broader African development question. This was done through a number of stages: First, through an analysis of the colonial historical context and its implications for post-independence development; second, by analysing phenomena after independence that resulted from the fall of colonialism; and finally, by analysing realities of the people in urban areas. The approach adopted for the analysis of the housing crisis was therefore grounded on discourses of Africa‘s development crisis, including those of economic collapse and ‗failed‘ or vampire‘ states. More specifically, the analysis explored the role played by the colonial history and the crisis of expectations after independence. The analysis pointed to many factors that contributed to the housing crisis after Namibia‘s independence, but also argues that apportioning the blame for the crisis to the post-independence government is rather reductive and has resulted in limited and incomplete understanding of the housing crisis. The analysis suggests that the country‘s settler period should be a critical starting point to understanding the post-independence housing crisis. By focusing attention on the postindependence government and placing the blame for the housing crisis directly at its door steps, it is easy to end up neglecting historical factors and their consequential effects and manifestations after independence. These are not peculiar to Namibia, but have also been experienced in other post-colonial states in the region. These were often responsible for the demands, expectations and challenges that were encountered after independence, which any explanation that focuses on the government and its failures fail to fully explain.