Do They Know What ‘We Can’t Afford’ Means?

It’s like NamPower and its main squeeze, the Electricity Control Board (ECB), think Namibians are made of money. Do they imagine we’re joking when we say, “ , we’re broke?” It’s not a riddle – it’s reality. Just who, I ask, do they think is going to pay for this “luxury” when they’re pricing it out of our reach? Heh? Are those MBAs and fancy degrees, straight from the Czech Republic, not working their magic? Is basic math lost on these folks? Because if they’re doing the numbers right, I think they’d see we’re all only this close to investing in three-legged cast iron pots and stocking up on good old candles.

Don’t laugh. The only reason half of Windhoek hasn’t done it already is because the Ministry of Mines and Energy still promises us affordable loans for solar panels. But trust me, if those don’t materialise, prepare to watch Windhoek return to its name – Otjomuise – with a thick cloud of fire smoke hanging in the air.

We will cook outside, man! As for office work, we came from paper and we’ll return to paper. Metal sheets and iron will be bent by hand and hammer, we will carry those tonnes on our shoulders in the factories. We beat apartheid, dammit! Don’t try us! We love and appreciate electricity, but it shouldn’t cost us our spouses.

Do you know how many divorces are filed when that prepaid electricity meter runs dry? Even Tate Tom, our minister, tried warning these highly paid paper-pushers about what’s coming. But they s.