On The ‘Sale’ Of Namibia
EVERY Namibian ought to read your editorial (‘Namibia Up For Sale’) of 27 July 2012.
You are commended for the compelling points you convey so aptly. Where the environment of the Namibian coastline and its ocean matters so much your editorial leaves much food for thought.
What the two Australian companies are trying to achieve via their Sandpiper project to mine marine phosphates in Namibia’s coastal waters fits precisely in with what you describe as the “reality that ‘investors’ do not pump money into a place for charity. Their sole aim is to extract wealth”.
No question that that wealth and profits will be repatriated to shareholders in Australia who eagerly demand proper returns. How frightfully true then is your conclusion: “... the country’s wealth keeps leaving Namibia to enrich other nations”!
The Namibia Environmental Commissioner has now on two occasions refused to grant these two companies any environmental clearance. They are fully aware of the prerequisites and non-negotiable requirements contained in Namibian legislation and demanded by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and by the fishing industry itself. Any permission for their project to move forward is thus very far from forthcoming.
But, yet, their project manager is already boasting in publications about the value of the “1.8 billion tons of phosphorous pentoxide on the seabed” as being assets under his control.
Every right-thinking Namibian must be shocked by such blatant arrogance.
But now at least these two foreign entities have confirmed their real intentions to all in Namibia. As warned in your editorial: the sole aim is extracting wealth. And leave Namibians with ...
After all, Namibians must determine what is in their interest and not be forced to offer their marine life and healthy fishing industry on the high altar of foreign opportunism and the sweetener of foreign direct investment.
If that were to be done your warning will ring true: “... we should not be surprised if we have no natural resources left to exploit in less than 100 years”.
So the message in your editorial is there for all of us to heed.
Swakopmund Matters
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