A new Afrobarometer policy paper titled “Open in principle, closed at the paycheque” has revealed a pronounced public gap in Namibia regarding immigration, highlighting broad social tolerance paired with deep-seated economic restrictionism ahead of an anticipated energy and resource boom.
Authored by national investigator Christiaan Keulder, the study examines Namibian attitudes toward foreign workers as the country prepares for major developments, including deepwater oil discoveries in the Orange Basin, such as TotalEnergies’ Venus and the Mopane complex, alongside the multi-billion-Dollar Hyphen green-hydrogen project.
Key findings from the survey indicate that while more than eight in 10 Namibians (83%) support global and continental trade, and 80% are comfortable having foreign nationals as neighbours, public sentiment shifts sharply when economic competition arises. Fewer than half (48%) view the economic impact of immigrants as positive or neutral, with only 23% supporting an increase or steady maintenance of foreign job seekers.
The research categorises public sentiment into three groups: consensus restrictionists (60%), principled cosmopolitans (20%), and labour liberals (20%). Crucially, researchers noted that opposition to foreign labour is spread evenly across demographics rather than concentrated among the unemployed or impoverished, suggesting that economic growth alone will not alleviate public anxiety without robust local-content policies and workforce Namibianisation.
–ChannelAfrica/Afrobarometer–
