Following five years of economic recession and the crisis brought on by Covid-19, many Namibian households have lost their main source of income. Tens of thousands of workers have lost their jobs over the past few months, while countless businesses have closed down due to the collapse of the economy.

We have heard from social workers that a number of children have been taken up in Swakopmund State Hospital and in other towns because their families are now totally destitute and can simply no longer afford to feed them. People are rummaging through the dumpsites to look for food and many are starving amid plenty.

It is a tragic shame. It is unbearable and unacceptable that our people should die of hunger. We regard it as a form of torturing the poor and we fear that the hunger crisis will worsen unless we tackle it with great urgency to avoid the further loss of life. There is now an unprecedented hunger crisis and the situation in our communities is becoming increasingly desperate.

In terms of the Constitution, all the marine resources of the country belong to the Namibian people.

We therefore call on the government to:

1. Immediately authorise and fund the distribution of monthly fish parcels to all households affected by the economic crisis..
2. Ensure that a significant portion of all fishing quotas issued by the government be used to supply fish parcels to Namibian households,.

We are in danger of losing many of the most vulnerable people to the scourge of hunger and starvation, something that is entirely unnecessary and avoidable, given the vast fish resources available in Namibian waters.

Chronic hunger weakens the immune system and raises the risk of disease proliferation, meaning it will undermine the fight against Covid-19.. 

You will also be aware that millions of people around the world consume fish caught in Namibian waters on a daily basis while the Namibian people go hungry. CNN reported some time back that Erongo Fishing Company alone supplies about 8 million people around the world with Namibian horse mackerel on a daily basis.

It is a tragedy that a growing number of Namibians, who are the legal owners of the country’s marine resources, are chronically undernourished and on the brink of starvation. It must surely be considered a crime of treasonous proportions to ship abroad the bulk of fish resources while the citizens of the country go hungry.

Therefore, we call on the government to give to the Namibian people what belongs to them. We urge the government to combat the hunger crisis by at least allocating  sufficient fish parcels to the poor, the elderly, the destitute and the needy.

The government has the legal authority and moral responsibility to ward off the famine that is ravaging our communities by any means necessary.

We urge you to show moral courage. You are in a position to stave off the hunger crisis, to save many lives, to rescue from famine our people who are in desperate need of care and sustenance. Act now before it is too late.