Former mines and energy minister Tom Alweendo has called on the government to publish a clear implementation plan for Namibia’s new mineral agreements with China.
Alweendo says Namibia must turn the deals into measurable economic benefits. Namibia and China signed nine cooperation agreements covering economic development, health, education, mining, agriculture, tourism, media and technology during president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s state visit to China from 6 to 11 July.
Alweendo says the next step is to make sure the agreements produce results.
“The task now is to move from diplomatic language to an industrial plan that investors can finance and Namibians can measure,” he said on social media on Monday.
He said the plan should identify priority minerals, outline realistic processing stages, assign responsibilities to ministries and agencies, identify infrastructure gaps and set annual targets for investment, skills development, local suppliers and exports.
Alweendo said Namibia should use the agreements to build a competitive minerals industry instead of relying on raw mineral exports.China is one of Namibia’s biggest export markets, buying about a quarter of all the country’s exports, according to a recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report. Last year, China bought about N$23.4 billion worth of goods from Namibia.
Uranium made up 85% of those exports.
Alweendo warned that banning raw mineral exports alone would not create factories or jobs.
In 2023, when Alweendo was the minister of mines and energy, the government decided to ban the export of Namibia’s critical minerals in raw form such as lithium ore, cobalt, manganese, graphite and rare-earth metals and elements.
The aim was to encourage local processing, create more jobs and add more value to the country’s minerals before they are exported. “Geological endowment creates an opportunity; it does not create a competitive processing industry.
Processing plants require dependable feedstock, affordable and reliable electricity, water, logistics, technical skills, environmental controls, working capital and long-term buyers,” said Alweendo.
Over the weekend, Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) questioned the transparency of agreements signed in China.
The IPC called on the government to release details of the deals and the companies involved. IPC shadow minister of international relations and trade Rodney Cloete raised concerns about an agreement signed in Beijing between Okaparwa Investments CC and China’s Sany Energy Equipment Co. Ltd.
“Yet, no Namibian has been told who Okaparwa is, what it contributes, where the factory will stand, what the deal is worth, or what a ‘binding’ agreement commits anyone to,” Cloete says.
He also questioned why no Chinese source, including Sany, had publicly announced the signing.
Cloete claims Okaparwa Investments CC was registered on 1 August 2023 but has “no website, no listed telephone number, no published address and no record of a single completed project anywhere in the public domain”.
The IPC also referred to a reported N$612 million solar arrangement involving Massaus Investments CC, which it said is linked to members of the president’s family, and questioned meetings held during the Beijing visit with Chinese companies.
The party also criticised the Presidency for not publishing the names of the about 200 people who travelled to China as part of the Namibian delegation.
“Who went, who paid, whose company got a seat at a signing table and whose, like Naloba’s members, stayed home?” Cloete asks.
