Are we the owners or not?

• By Confidente Reporter

Namibia’s top leadership has been sending mixed sentiments regarding the ownership of natural resources.

The latest is Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who stated that Namibians own the natural resources.

Nandi-Ndaitwah’s speech at the official opening of the Mining Expo and Conference on Wednesday in Windhoek contradicts the late President Hage Geingob’s sentiments made two years ago.

Geingob told Al Jazeera in a wide-ranging interview that the oil discovered in the Orange Basin does not belong to the country.

In the interview held in Qatar in February 2022, Geingob said Namibians do not own the oil legally because they do not own majority shares.

The late President repeated the same sentiments while engaging with different political parties at the State House.

“Legally it is owned by the investors, with 90%, but we are going to get it through taxes and royalties until we nationalise and become socialists, and we do not want that,” Geingob told the parties.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said natural resources belong to Namibians, naturally and constitutionally.

She said Namibians need a clear law to protect that ownership and attract investments.

“Namibia is our country, and its resources belong to us as Namibians, and we must work together to achieve shared, balanced prosperity,” she said.

She said that technical engagements are currently underway to work on the law. “Similarly, consultations with all stakeholders in finalising that law are a must,” she said, adding that mining is vital to agriculture, a strategic industry.

Nandi-Ndaitwah also said mining and exploration continue contributing to Namibia’s national economy, creating direct and indirect employment opportunities for Namibians.

Moreover, she said, the mining industry’s contribution to the government revenue significantly increased from N$4.4 billion in 2022 to N$6.8 billion in 2023.

According to her, the government would work with the industry to ensure that Namibians and all who live in this country feel its contribution to the economy.

The vice president said beyond becoming a potential supplier of critical minerals, Namibia’s immediate growth prospects in mining lie in the uranium and gold sub-sectors.

“In alignment with the clean energy transition, Nandi-Ndaitwah said, many countries have recognised nuclear power as a sustainable and carbon-neutral base-load power source and have begun to develop or expand their nuclear power capabilities.

“Namibia is ranked the world’s third-largest producer of uranium, and this price improvement has accelerated the development plans for two advanced uranium projects, with many more likely to follow,” she explained.

The National Planning Commission head, Obeth Kandjoze, backed Geingob’s sentiments that Namibians technically own less than 90% of the natural resources.

“It is so precise that it refers to the contractual agreement that regulates those who put in the most investment through money and other resources,” Kandjoze said.

He added that Namibia and international companies sign agreements which everyone is expected to respect.

According to Kandjoze, a production licence would be valid for at least 25 years.

“One of the clauses reads that each shareholder can elect a destination of their choice to leave their share of the produce,” Kandjoze said during the same meeting with the leaders of the political parties in 2022.

In July 2024, Obed Kandjoze told a Nedbank oil and gas discussion that the oil discovered in Namibia does not belong to Namibians.

“We have had the debate about whether the oil is ours, the oil is not ours,” he said, adding that the private sector and investors need to become partners in creating a dispensation that satisfies all.

Alweendo’s mixed sentiments

The minister of mines, Tom Alweendo, has been sending mixed messages about the ownership of natural resources.

Reacting to Geingob’s Al Jazeera interview, Alweendo said that the oil discovered in the Orange basin belongs to Namibians.

The minister told the National Assembly after PDM leader McHenry Venaani’s query regarding Geingob’s comments on Al Jazeera that the oil discovered is for Namibians.

“It cannot be otherwise, and they have yet to sign agreements,” Alweedo said.

The minister added: “So far, there are no production agreements signed. Now that the discovery is made, we are now in the second phase where we need to start negotiating the production agreement and that will be, of course, between the government and the investors.”

Alweendo has also qualified some of his statements that Namibians should only expect a little if they do not participate in the extractive sector. Speaking at the international energy conference in April this year, Alweendo said Namibian entrepreneurs must play a deliberate role in developing this new industry. 

“The end goal is to spread the wealth generated by these natural resources among Namibians, develop the skills of the Namibian people in oil and gas professions, and promote the establishment of Namibian oil and gas businesses,” he explained. According to Alweendo, it requires more than good policies to work.

“We in the ministry are striving to enact the framework to create an internationally competitive petroleum sector that maximises the benefits for our people and leverages our natural resources for broader national development,” he told the delegates at the conference. 

In a meeting with Naloba in May this year, Alweendo said the government will have to negotiate better deals depending on “how you define it”.

“We are trying, maybe it’s the pace at which we are doing it,” he said.

He told the association that Namibia was working on a national upstream petroleum local content policy to help local companies and Namibian citizens benefit from oil and gas opportunities across the industry’s value chain,” he said.

Alweendo explained that the local content policy caters to local businesses.

“Don’t sit and wait and say I am a Namibian, you should be a player,” he said, adding that locals should avoid being used by foreign investors to secure tenders. Downstream activities for Namibians Alweendo’s sentiments tally with Geingob’s that Namibians can only benefit through jobs and downstream activities in the extractive sector.

In the March 2022 meeting with political party leaders, Geingob said the discovery of oil would not specifically transform the domestic economy because of capital flight.

He said Namibia would only benefit from royalties.

According to Geingob, Namibia has gold and diamonds, but the country has yet to benefit.

“We have gold and diamonds; we don’t see a big difference. It still goes outside in raw form; its value is added, jobs are created outside, and technology is transferred.

“So we hope there will be some kind of value addition in the country. That is the only way you can say there will be more jobs created, and money stays in the country,” the late President said.

Finance minister Ipumbu Shiimi also told the political party leaders that the government has a tax regime and collects its share through taxes, royalties and company taxes.

“If you look at that cake, about 60% comes to the government through taxes,” Ipumbu said.

Resources belong to Namibians, but…

Last month, President Nangolo Mbumba told the Swanu leadership at State House that Namibians own the country’s natural resources, not anyone from abroad.

Mbumba said the country should start focusing on how to get the necessary equipment to turn natural resources into finished products.

Mbumba, however, hastened to say that even though the resources belong to Namibians, the country needs to secure funds to turn those resources into finished products to benefit the nation.

“We need financial resources. We need technology and management to ensure our processing is of good standards.

“Resources are ours but we need to go with whom people who we work with to succeed,” Mbumba said.

Mbumba said Namibia needs to start training young people to take over opportunities in the natural resources sector.

“Let us train our young people. We must train them on how to be able to deal with those oil and gas resources.

“The resources are ours, but we need capital, and we have the responsibility to choose whom to work with because it is our resources,” Mbumba said.

During a visit to the mines ministry this year, Mbumba said Namibians must be careful before making demands.

He said mining is highly complex, and “we need to think twice before making a demand. Before, we demand. It is our resource. You are blessed to be born in a country as big as Namibia. With the minerals. With resources. We still have challenges. We have to provide water, and more is needed. So, we have challenges. But at least we should be proud that we are Namibians,” Mbumba said.