Namibia on the road to restricting academic research by John Grobler Draconian new regulations for all academic research in Namibia represent a hand basket of first-class invitations to several possible constitutional lawsuits. Under Namibia’s liberal constitution, the country’s feisty print media enjoys freedoms not often seen in Africa. The easy and open access to information has also made Namibia a favourite destination for international academic researchers who have studied its rich geology, biology, anthropology and astronomy. So it came as a shock when a local NGO, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), discovered last year that regulations announced by…
John Grobler
Namibia’s fisheries: heading for a rough patch by John Grobler The Namibian fishing industry, widely considered one of Africa’s best-managed, is heading for stormy waters. A combination of a depressed Spanish market, rising operating costs and a proliferation of new quota holders is leaving the sector awash in red ink. Namibia is Africa’s biggest white fish producer overall, and the biggest exporter of white fish to European markets, according to Marcos Garcia Rey, a researcher at the University of Barcelona’s social studies department. The country’s fishing industry is recognised as a poster child for successful management of a dwindling asset…
Angola’s murky oil deals The rebuilding of an Angolan railway reveals a confluence of hidden interests On the border between Angola’s eastern Moxico province and the southern Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a Chinese-made iron drag- on—the Benguela railway—is poised to cross the Kasai River and so re-establish Angola’s rail links with the rest of Africa for the first time since 1975. The rebuilding of the bridge will restore the 85-year railway link between the deep-water port of Lobito on Angola’s Atlantic Ocean coast, 34km north of Benguela, and the mineral wealth of Katanga province. Katanga…
