WHEN one of Namibia’s wealthiest businessmen, the late Werner List, donated six of his farms to the Sam Nujoma-led government in 1998, he was lauded as a generous Namibian.
In return, he was allocated fishing quotas to subsidise one of his businesses.
The exact details and figures of the offer were, however, never made public.
Now, leaked documents, including a letter to the former president, provide insight into this transaction.
This shows how List convinced Nujoma that the government should allocate additional fishing quotas to his company Consortium Fisheries Ltd, which experienced financial trouble at the time.
“We have a problem in our organisation which I must solve,” List told Nujoma in a letter dated 6 August 1996.
“We need money to invest, but we are losing too much money in the fish business. Our quota is too small for the factory we built, and we must survive,” he wrote.
To entice the government, List offered to donate six farms to Nujoma’s government in exchange for additional fishing quotas.
To some, this was a noble gesture, which now benefits 50 landless families resettled at the farms.
But to others, this transaction was an example of how Ohlthaver & List’s proximity to power helped it survive troubling times.
O&L yesterday denied this allegation.
List has led the O&L Group for more than 50 years.
The business empire today has an annual revenue of around N$6,4 billion, and N$10 billion in assets as of 2020.
It employs 6 000 permanent and temporary workers.
List was one of Namibia’s wealthiest business people until his death in 2002 at the age of 80.
His company owns Namibia Breweries Limited, Namibia Dairies, Pick n Pay, and Broll Namibia, among other companies.
The well-known Wernhil Park shopping mall in Windhoek is named after him and his wife, Hildegard.
O&L prides itself as a proudly Namibian company, but some believe it has been protected by the government through industrial policies in several key industries.
The company now owns Hangana Seafood, a fishing company that has benefited from years of free fishing quotas.
O&L has over the years roped in politically connected business people.
This includes Nujoma’s brother-in-law, the late Aaron Mushimba, who was one of the owners of O&L as part of the black economic empowerment scheme.
has seen the letter List wrote Nujoma on 6 August 1996.
He explained his company’s financial troubles.
“The losses during the past two years were N$20 million up to now, for which we could have built enough housing for all our people at Walvis Bay,” he wrote.
He said his company needed additional quotas to add to the 10 000 tonnes they received that year from the state.
In exchange, List proposed to donate six farms to the government by April 1997.
The farms in question are located in the Kunene region near Outjo, measuring a combined 21 100 hectares.
These are farms Nimitz, Tsumis, Dwight East, Elf, Dwight, and Michael.
