Cheetah Cement faces closure and 87 retrenchments after NaCC blocks Ohorongo merger attempt

Cheetah Cement faces closing operations and retrenching about 87 employees by 15 April, following sustained financial losses, regional import restrictions, and a prohibited merger attempt.

This is due to import restrictions on cement exported to Botswana and Zimbabwe, combined with a lack of demand in the local market as parent company Whale Rock’s operations are not economically feasible.

This is contained in a notice to the Mineworkers’ Union of Namibia (MUN) dated 2 March.

Cheetah Cement spokesperson Tabby Moyo yesterday said consultations are currently ongoing between the government, the company and the union to resolve the situation.

“Only after the consultations will we be in a position to provide feedback on what has been decided,” he said.

Cheetah Cement is owned by Whale Rock Cement, a Chinese-owned company which was fined N$5 million in 2024 alongside Fan Qingmei, Wang Zhongke and Hong Xiang Holdings Ltd over a merger which did not have the approval of the Namibian Competition Commission (NaCC).

Hong Xiang Holdings is the majority shareholder, with a 70% shareholding in Whale Rock Cement.

“The commission’s investigation has found that the parties contravened Section 44, read with Sections 51 and 53 of the Competition Act. The investigation focused on a merger between West China Cement Limited and Schwenk Namibia (Proprietary) Limited, which was prohibited in 2020 due to its potential to prevent or lessen competition in the cement production and supply markets in Namibia,” NaCC spokesperson Dina //Gowases said at the time.

She said the commission’s findings indicated that the acquisition would have resulted in an effective monopoly in the production and supply of cement in Namibia that would likely have resulted in anti-competitive effects.

The settlement agreement entered between the parties and the commission was made an order of court in the High Court on 29 July 2024 in the matter of NaCC versus Fan Qingmei and three others, she said.

“Whale Rock is suffering extensive losses and has been operating as a loss-making enterprise for the past eight financial years. Whale Rock intends to reduce its entire workforce and cease its operations,” the notice reads.

The company has blamed the situation on the NaCC for refusing the merger.

In February 2025, Whale Rock Cement notified the NaCC of its intention to acquire the entire issued share capital in Schwenk Namibia, an entity that holds the controlling interest in Ohorongo Cement, for the purposes of a horizontal merger.

However, on 17 July 2025, the NaCC refused the intended acquisition/merger, adding that it initially intended to conduct its operations on both the Whale Rock and Ohorongo sites.

The intended transaction would have resulted in little or no loss of employment, the company says.

Contacted for comment yesterday, //Gowases said the commission would pronounce itself on the matter in due course.

Employees at the bargaining unit and non-bargaining unit employees who have not been identified as critical staff are affected by the planned retrenchments.

The second phase of retrenchments will affect those employees who have been identified as critical staff.

The company says critical staff involve those employees who are required to remain within operations to facilitate the retrenchment process and to ensure operations are properly wound down.

MUN unionist Reginald Kock says the union has been notified, and negotiations to find a remedy will start next week.

“We are talking about 90% of the workforce set to lose jobs, and as a union we cannot allow such a thing to happen. We need to find alternatives.”

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