Despite its communist origins, I believe Workers Day is one of the more important annual events that we must reflect upon. In a European context, Workers Day celebrates the achievements of the workers' collective, i.e. the rights of workers, the protection of their jobs and their own protection in the workplace. In an African context, the general understanding of Workers Day is far from that. For Namibians, it usually fades away in a well-peppered line-up of public holidays making life for businesses particularly difficult during this time of the year. Yet, in its essence, for us Workers Day is supposed to commemorate the input, effort and sweat of the millions of African workers who contribute, often unseen and unsung, to their respective economies.

But Workers Day also has an ominous side. I would like to believe that on this day, we also remember the fact that in Namibia, a very substantial portion of our population does not have cause for celebration because they don't have any work.
It is one of our sad realities that despite being a capital exporting nation, we cannot provide every willing and able-bodied Namibian with a job that will take care of him and his family. Inevitably this situation forces us to revisit our progress, and our future planning.
In this regard, I am an avid supporter of government's so-called pro-poor policies, but I perceive several anomalies that demand more attention and clearer policies.
The only really clear policy is tax-based. This is all good and well if you have a job and you fall in the low-income category. But if you are one of the estimated 40% unemployed, then a tax rebate is of no use. For the unemployed and for broad empowerment and development, the policies tend to be vague resembling political statements instead of implementable policies.
I believe it is sufficiently proven that job creation and economic growth goes hand in hand. Further, if I take the State of California as an example, then it has also been shown quite convincingly that broad-based economic progress with benefits for all rests on a multitude of small successful businesses.
A similar case can be observed in the exponential growth of the Export Processing sector in Ireland.