Marginalised Uis residents want a piece of the resource pie

Uis residents in the Dâures constituency are unwavering in their quest to protect their environment and benefit from the natural resources in the area.

Uis, in the Erongo region, is home to lithium and tin, which are among Namibia’s critical minerals. These, along with tantalum and copper, are essential components in clean energy technologies, electric vehicles and advanced electronics.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy implemented a ban on exporting unprocessed forms of these critical minerals to maximise domestic benefit from the growing global demand.

However, the community of about 3 000 people remain poor and marginalised.

Community activist Jimmy //Areseb says Chinese companies in joint ventures with local companies have been the biggest beneficiaries from these resources.

“These are companies that bring their own employees, pay them salaries, provide housing for them and export the raw materials to add value in their country. Namibians don’t get jobs there. Out of 100 employment opportunities, maybe 20 people from the constituency will get jobs. The government only receives the 2% in royalty payments. What is there for us?” he asks.

//Areseb says these companies have shown no respect towards the environment.

He says the community has traditionally made a living out of tourism activities. However, tourism and large scale mining, which includes dynamite blasting and excavation, cannot co-exist.

“The places they are mining are sensitive breeding areas of wildlife from which the Tsiseb conservancy was earning an income for the community through trophy hunting. When illegal lithium mining started, the animals moved from the area. When the trophy hunter with whom we had the contract came, there were no animals and the community lost the contract.

“The other areas where mining is taking place are home to ancestral graves. Our elders who are still alive have been going to the relevant offices to lay their complaints that blasting is taking place in sacred areas, but it has been to no avail,” says //Areseb.

Anmire Dâusas, a community member, alleges that the community is aware of irregularities in how Chinese mining company Xingfeng was granted exclusive prospecting licences (EPLs).

Dâusas says it is clear the company did not do an environmental impact assessment.

“If they had done the assessment, they would have known which areas are for tourism and where the graves are through their own study and consultation with the community members. But these were not done, and yet they were awarded environmental clearance certificates. This is why we say the awarding of the EPL has irregularities,” says Dâusas.

Environmental commissioner Timo Mufeti and mining commissioner Isabella Chirchir have opted not to comment as the matter is under investigation.

Due to the community’s petitions and demonstrations since 2022 regarding the alleged illegal lithium mining, the parliamentary standing committee on natural resources conducted an investigation into the matter.

Chairperson of the standing committee Tjekero Tweya on 19 February said the report was ready and that it will be presented in parliament on 25 February.

The investigation included interviews with the Dâure Daman Traditional Authority, Dâures constituency councillors, community members, and the ministries of mines and energy, environment and tourism as well as urban and rural development.

During the interviews, Dâures constituency councillor Kennedy !Haoseb told the parliamentary standing committee on natural resources that some big mining companies have failed to rehabilitate the environment after exploiting it for minerals at Okombahe and surrounding areas.

“Especially where the Chinese are mining dimensional stones, you can see the big holes, the tailings – all left like that and they are gone. There was no benefit to the farmers,” said !Haoseb.

The scope of the report is expected to cover the legality of the mining operations, determine the size of the lithium deposit and its market value, the expressed lack of trust by the community in the mining and environmental commissioners, and calls to remove the chief of the Dâure Daman Traditional Authority, Sagarias Seibeb.

Community spokesperson Cornelia Atjiwara says community members are aggrieved with the chief as he and his fellow leaders are allegedly the only ones benefiting from deals regarding the area’s natural resources while the community members themselves remain poor and marginalised.

Atjiwara says, therefore, the community members are demanding that the chief and his daughter be removed from office so the community can elect their own leaders.

They blame the leadership for the alleged illegal exploitation of natural resources and the lack of socioeconomic development of the community.

“Our main concern is the lack of progress at Uis since the chief’s coronation in 2018. The settlement has seen no infrastructural or economic development, leaving us dissatisfied with the chief’s leadership and governance,” says Atjiwara.

The community accuses Seibeb and his family of receiving multiple payments, totalling N$10 000, to facilitate the company’s mining rights in the area.

“These payments were made into a NamPost account and not the traditional authority’s trust fund. The chief and his leaders are only there to promote nepotism, and self-enrichment.

“There is no transparency and that is why we have been raising our concerns since 2021,” says the spokesperson.

Chief Seibeb has denied these claims of secrecy, nepotism, and self-enrichment.

“I do not do projects for myself, it is for the people. So why should I do these things in secret? These people come to our offices and receive help with consent letters and claim forms but then turn around and say this office is useless.

“Nowadays we have people going on social media to stop people from attending community meetings.

“This same group of people demonstrated saying there is illegal mining among small miners. The buyers that used to buy from the locals used to pay them even for 10kg of semi-precious stones and people had money every Friday. Now the buyers have withdrawn and the people are crying about hunger,” says the chief.

He says the NamPost account cited in the allegations belongs to the traditional authority and is used for operational expenses.

“I am not a signatory to any of the authority’s accounts. And I am not avoiding meeting these people and addressing their grievances as I have been addressing the concerns through the relevant government minister,” says Seibeb.

The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development conducted a separate investigation as the custodian of traditional leaders and their affairs.

Ministry spokesperson Etuna Shikalepo says they are still preparing a formal response which was not available at the time of going to press.

However, The Namibian understands the ministry has completed their investigation and have given the report to Seibeb for right of reply before releasing the findings.

Section eight of the Traditional Authorities Act says the community members must, based on their customary law, draft a letter of discontent with accompanying documentation as proof to remove the chief, and then submit such to the line minister. The line minister will then, after conducting their investigation, forward the documentation to the president for a decision.

The community members have vowed to stay put on the premises of the Dâure Daman Traditional Authority until Seibeb has been removed from the chieftainship.

They have been demonstrating since the beginning of the year, and remain camped on the premises to benefit from their natural resources and to protect the environment.

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