Opposition Walk out of NA After .Being Outvoted
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_______*_T:_ .o_D_A_~_:. F._IS_H_IN_G...;.. _FO_R_'F_,O_R_E·_IG_N_E_RS_t_O_N_Ly.....:'(~~,_AV_I_S_5_A_P_RE_A_R_T_O_D_A_;t_*_~---.;...N.....:ov~_~o .. Bring'ing Africa South 50c (GST Inc.) . Friday November 9 Opposition walk out of NA after .being outvoted A STORM erupted in the National Assembly yesterday after the official Opposition, the DTA, staged' a protest walk-out after they were outvoted on a motion on eco nomic affairs. There was complefe chaos and actually address the House to inform unruliness in the aut'6st House, with them there was no quorum and that the governing party clapping hands ' the House would adjourn until today. and druIllriUng on their desks as the The DTA's walk-out was prompted DTA took to their heels in what some by an opposing motion' by Prime observers described as "a cloud of Minister Hage Geingob to the effect defeatism' '. that DTA chairperson Dirk Mudge's ' NPF leader Moses Katjiuongua motion on the state of the economy tasted glory for a brief few seconds was premature and should not be when he took the sea.t in one of the discussed fO.r the time being. Opposition's chairs, proclaiming . In his motivatio? Geiugob said himself the official Opposition. the motion dealt with virtually eve For a while the Speaker of the rything the· government intended to Assembly, Moses Tjitendero, could do. not be heard by the .those present He pointed out that the govern because of.the noise. ment was involved in bilateral dis Even after the House calmed down, cussions with foreign governments the speaker could still not get through and that these negotiations were al to the members and discovered to his ready.at a delicate stage. Discussions suprise that the sound system had of the motion, Geingob suggested, given in, because of the drumming could •'j~opardise" the negotiations. on the benches. One of the secretar When the government had reached ies of the Assembly had to leave his definite conclusions and agreements, WELCOME THE RAIN! The firSt beavy shower of the 'small' rainy seas'oil feU in Windhoek seat to rush to the switch-box to get it the National Assembly would have a yesterday, hringing welcome relief to h~at-oppressed residents. This group of friends·were among back in order. chance to express itself on the issUes, those who expressed their joy at the downpour. Photograph:. John Liebenberg. It was only after the sound system the PM said. was fixed that the Speaker could Geingob said an Investment Code --------------------------~------------~--------------------------------------------------------------------~ . waspresentlybcingdraftedandwomd soon be tabled in the Assembly for discussion. A disappointed Mudge, realising Electricity that he was about to be outvoted, TeL refuse to budge pointed out that the Assembly was the only platform available for oppo breakdown sition parties to express their views on sensitive issues. A MASSIVE and widespread &com Negotiations over wages break down After they were outvoted, DTA power failure in South Africa yes members took to their heels in a terday also affected Namibia. 'p~otest' wille-out, claiming at a press The close to two-hour power cut, EVEN a Conciliation Board could no't hammer home the meaning dealing with a party not prepared to conference later on that the ruling which brought WindhQek to a stand of negotiations to a pig-headed negotiating team from TCL. meet them halfway, decided to come party was silencing the voice of the still, was experienced countrywide to an across the board increase of Opposition through their numbers. In Namibia. The C~nciliation Board meeting yesterday the meeting had broken R450. Hut even this would not move Accompanying the DTA were two A spokesperson for Namibia's between TCL and the Mineworkers' down due to TCL's position. It had the TCL negotiating team. ACN members, Jannie de Wet and Electricity Utility (Swawek), En Union of Namibia yesterday broke collapsed after two rounds, he added. Ulenga said that at both meetings Peter Kayser, with leader Kosie Pre-. gart Hoogenhout, said power fail down because TCL refused to budge Initially the MUN demanded that ,TCL only stated their position and torius remaining behind. ures were experlencl!d across the an inch from its position. the minimum basic salary ofR308 be refused to negotiate. Mudge asserted that the govern country, with the exception ofWaIvis The board was called by the Cabi increased to R540, representing a 75 The purpose of the Conciliation ment was deliberately keeping the ' Bay and the Rossing Uranium mine net after the two parties could nor per cent hike. Board was for the :. two parties to Opposition uninfomled on impor near Swakopmund. come to an agreement on wage in Right from the beginning it was negotiate anissue they could not find tant issues. Hoogenhout said the disruption creases for workers at TCL mines. clear that TCL would not move from common ground on. The DTA, he said, could only come . was caused by the extremely low Responding to enquiries on the its position of granting only it 15 per At one stage a TCL team-member to the conclusion that the govern- latest developments, Ben Ulenga, cent salary increase. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 general secretary of the MUN, said The MUN, realising they were CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 THE HOTEL WITH EVERYTHING! TEl.. 3-7293 **TYYY CONTINENTAL HOTEL FAX 3-1539 ,'- ·rI i Mudge's Motion 011 Economic Affairs DTA CHAIRPERSON Dirk Mudge yesterday failed to introduce debate. "Sporadic., vague and often nancial and technical support from ever be able to raise funds for redis r his Motion on Economic Affairs in the National Assembly, resulting contradictory statementS by Minis the UN, published numerous reports tribution in the short-term, without in the DT A staging an unprecedented walkout from the Assembly. tries of our government is just not on the Namibianeconomy and future damaging the economy, was through good enough," he said. economic policy. privatisation. The. motion was, however, later sponse to the private sector's will The DTA wanted the government He, however, found mitigating Quite supri singly , Mudge advo made 'available to the press and al ingness to participate in planning the to move faster as far as policy formu circumstances for the ruling party's cated the introduction of a land tax though it i~ a wide-ranging docu future left much to be desired. lation was concerned and the excuse reluctance to implement these poli based on the soil's potential yield as ment it largely repeats previously He criticised the government for a that they had only been in power six _ cies as' they were based on what was a means of transferring white farms stated DTA economic policy. tendency to discuss sensitive and months was not convincing. then called" the moral superiority of into black hands. "This would en In the motion, Mudge started out crucial issues behind closed doors They were aware that before inde socialism". courage better farming and under by saying that the government's re- while the Opposition preferred open pendence Swapo, with massive fi- This, he said, was a policy which use of land," he said. ,- was now rejected by those countries Financial assistance at reasonable who had experimented with it for interest rates to buy land had to be decades. In an effort to .get away made available to those black farm from contaminated terminology they ers who had the potential to farm had all agreed that they preferred a successfully. But this had to be a mixed economy. "The important transaction between a willing buyer question of course concerns the na and a willing seller at market-related ture of the mix. What is, however, prices, which was normally lower clear is that socialism has failed," he than the price the State had to pay for said. expropriation. Again, he said, they all agreed that Mudge argued that should there be the narrowing, and ultimate elimina a need for more land forpeasants and tion, of the wealth gap was the top subsistence farmers, the undeveloped priority, but the problem was dis- . areas of the country should be devel agreement over methods. oped. Experience had shown that Thming to the level of government resettled black farmers, although they control he argued that government turned out to be very capable, badly officials were not trained to run a needed working capital and techni business. cal assistance. Mudge said the best example he Millions would be needed in agri could use was that of TransNamib cultural development in Namibia and which when it was run by the State the DTA hoped that foreign aid would accumulated massive losses, but since be chanelled in that direction. it had beenprivatised it had come out Mudge said that whatever was done of the red. people would be flocking to the towns He said it had now become clear and cities and that no attempt should that the only .effective way to close be made to stop this,otherwise the gap between rich and poor was Namibia would remain a backward through rapid economic growth - and nation. that this was only achieved'in free Small business undertakings would PERESTROIKA: The ACN's Jan de Wet (left) greets Soviet Charge d'Affaires Pavel Pavlov at a markets. therefore, have to be supported and function at the Soviet Embassy on Tuesday to mark the October Revolution. 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