Baynes hydropower goes ahead despite pushback

The Baynes hydropower project between Namibia and Angola is progressing, despite opposition from some Kunene residents saying the development threatens ancestral land and the environment.

NamPower and Kunene governor Vipukuje Muharukua have confirmed that no formal petition from the affected communities opposing the development has been received.

Project leader Muyenga Muyenga earlier this month told The Namibian that consultations and environmental assessments have been ongoing for years, and engagement structures are in place to address community concerns.

He was responding to claims by more than 1 000 people in the region who opposed the construction of the Baynes hydropower dam and had signed a petition and raised their concerns with former Kunene governor Marius Sheya and current governor Muharukua.

“It is the minority of people, who are also not directly affected, who continue to raise their criticism against the development of the project.

Anyone who has concerns or suggestions to make, can do so by approaching the stakeholder steering committee,” Muyenga said.

Those opposed to the project include indigenous knowledge researcher Alphons Koruhama, who says he and some people from the region are opposed to the government’s hydropower project.

They claim the project would destroy ancestral land and the environment and is contrary to the provisions of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which Namibia is a party.

The group also claims the project plan was not discussed with residents.

CLAIMS DISMISSED

Muyenga dismissed the claims, saying stakeholder consultations have been ongoing since the start of the social impact assessment study from 2009 to 2013, and again from 2015 to date.

“Subsequent to years of stakeholder consultations, a stakeholder steering committee was established in August 2024,” he said.

The committee, he said, comprises a number of local organisations and institutions such as the Epupa constituency office, the Kapilka Traditional Authority, the Kakurukouye Traditional Authority, the Marienflus conservancy, the Kunene Regional Council, the Vita Royal Authority, the Otjitanda conservancy, and the Office of the Kunene Governor.

Muyenga said some developments have already taken place in the project area.

These include the construction of a 54km jeep track road linking Epupa, Orokaue and Ovijeerere, and a community centre at Orokaue, which houses a kindergarten, community hall, mobile office and water treatment plant.

He said the construction of ablution facilities will start this month, while prefabricated accommodation units are expected to be built by November.

“Through the above, government outreach programmes such as education, health, agricultural extension support services, and the registration of birth and identity documents can now be provided, as road access and the community centre is now available for use,” he said.

Koruhama says the state has focused on the Kunene region since 1994 – first with the Epupa Dam and the Baynes project, but three decades later there are no tangible seeds of transformation for the Ovahimba and Ovazemba people.

He says the Baynes project not only threatens the natural world, but also ‘sacred land’.

Koruhama says the National Heritage Act, the Environmental Management Act, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the United Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People do not merely discourage such development, but forbid it.

“We have raised these issues with the former governor and the Office of the Ombudsman,” he says.

He asserts that the community is not opposed to electricity generation, but wants the government to listen to their concerns and agree on how environmental damage can be avoided or minimised.

Koruhama says the people who have signed the petition are residents of the Orokaue, Omaanda and Omuhonga villages, among others.

Sheya says he has not received any petition opposing the project, adding that community meetings have been held over the past two years.

Muharukua says he is aware of disagreement on the location of the project, but has not received any petition opposing the project.

“Any opinion opposing the project will be listened to and decisions will be made in the interest of the country,” he says.

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