Black Namibians have faced drastic increases in the cost of basic foods and services, while social provisions such as pensions and health care have been cut back. Bantustan 'governments' created under South Africa's apartheid system have been unable to raise sufficient revenue to cover expenditure on pensions, health, education and other services.
The Rehoboth second tier authority announced in June that it would reduce pension payments. The cut-back would affect people who were not totally disabled, and maintenance grants for unmarried mothers in cases where the father of the child was still alive.
Eight per cent of the total population were receiving pensions, while the central administration only allocated a sum of R50 a month per pensioner for five per cent of the population. The shortfall, amounting to over one million rand, had to be made up by the second tier authority. The cuts were implemented from 1 July 1984 (WA 29.6.84).
The costly duplication of running eleven separate health services, nominally under the control of second tier authorities, has shown up the failure of the bantustan policies imposed by South Africa. Most second tier authorities have transferred the administration of health to the central authority, which has handed it to the white second tier authority to run on an agency basis.
In April 1984, three second tier authorities tabled additional budgets, with health expenditure figuring as the largest vote. The Herero administration allocated more than half of its additional budget for health, and the Tswana second tier authority two-thirds. R4.1 million out of the total additional budget of R5.7 million tabled by the Coloured second-tier authority was reserved for health expenditure. An official of the Coloured administration said that per capita allocation for health from the central administration was R36 a month, while per capita cost had risen to R59 a month (WA 10.4.84).
An official of the Damara second tier authority explained the decision to hand back the health services to the central authority. The ethnic division of health services created opportunity for discrimination on grounds of skin colour. His administration was strangled for funds, but where the health service was run by the central authority, then suddenly a lot of money was available. 'Up to nine million rand was made available outside Damaraland because whites were running the funds whereas only a meagre R1.6 million was given to us', he said. Most of this had to be paid out in salaries, leaving only R400,000. There were two hospitals and 11 clinics in the Damara area, he said. The running costs of one hospital alone came to R400,000. He stressed that in Namibia, where the greatest proportion of the people live under the bread line, the provision of free health services was a necessity (WA 13.3.84; WO 17.3.84).
Black Namibians living in urban areas have been faced with large increases in the cost of basic services. Members of the Katutura Advisory Board said the residents of Katutura could not afford to pay for increased tariffs. Bus fares were increased in March, sewerage rates in April, and water rates in July. Many Katutura residents who were unemployed were in arrears with rents. People in Katutura were earning less and yet had to pay the same tariffs as people in the white part of Windhoek who were earning thousands of rands (WA 29.6.84).
The budget for the city of Windhoek which includes Katutura and Khomasdal, was tabled for the financial year commencing on 1 July 1984. Out of a total budget of R81,7 million, R53,8 million was allocated to Windhoek, R23 million to Katutura and R4,9 million to Khomasdal. The population of Windhoek, which is almost exclusively inhabited by white people, was 40,500, compared to 56,370 in Katutura and 23,130 in Khomasdal. An official of the Windhoek City Council explained that the lower budget for Katutura was misleading because capital expenditure budgeted for Windhoek included money to be spent on infrastructure systems which would also serve Katutura and Khomasdal. These included sewerage systems, extensions to the purification and reclamation works, and water storage reservoirs (WO 26.5.84). Reports on living conditions in Katutura and Khomasdal have nevertheless shown that both areas are deprived of many basic amenities ('Children of Namibia', FOCUS Briefing Paper No. 10 March, 1984).
The cost of all goods was increased in July by a rise in the General Sales Tax (GST) from seven to nine per cent. This followed an increase in GST from 6 to 7 per cent in 1983. There were strong protests from black consumers, and women formed an 'Action GST' group collecting thousands of signatures opposing the increase. Only unsifted maize meal, standard brown bread and milk were exempt from the recent increase. Action GST demanded that GST be removed from all food items (WA 22.6.84).
Daily food tariffs were also increased at the Katutura compound accommodating contract workers. An eight per cent increase was implemented on 1 March, bringing the daily cost of food for residents to R2.10 (WA 27.1.84).
