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Mbumba tells line ministries to deal with illegal mining in Erongo

President Nangolo Mbumba

PRESIDENT Nangolo Mbumba has acknowledged the request for a meeting to address concerns raised by members of the Dâure Daman community in the Erongo region.

This follows claims by their spokesperson, Cornelia Atjiwara, that community members are not happy with their chief and his leaders who are alleged to be the only people benefiting from deals made with Chinese nationals regarding the area’s natural resources while the community continues to live in poverty.

Part of the community’s concerns includes the removal of Gaob Sagarias Seibeb and his daughter from the chieftainship.

According to Mbumba, the matter has been referred to the relevant line ministers for attention.

He conveyed this in a letter addressed to Uis youth activist Jimmy Areseb yesterday.

“President Mbumba has taken note of the request for a meeting to address concerns regarding the Traditional

Authorities Act and Dâure Daman customary law, damage to heritage and ancestral places by investors, illegal mining, and the removal of chief Seibeb,” says Moses Pakote, executive director in the president’s private office, on behalf of Mbumba.

He adds: “In this regard, the president has referred the matter to the line ministers: urban and rural development minister Erastus Uutoni, environment and forestry minister Pohamba Shifeta, and mines and energy minister Tom Alweendo.”

According to Atjiwara, there has been a lack of progress at the town.

“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, making us dissatisfied with the chief’s leadership and governance,” she says.

This comes despite a court order secured by Seibeb to remove protestors – senior citizens among them – and the arrest of /Areseb by the Namibian Police’s Special Reserve Force this month.

In a press release sent to the media last year, Seibeb said the traditional authority had successful gatherings where young and elderly Dâure Daman men gathered at Uis and came up with concrete proposals for businesses to uplift the Dâure Daman community and provide leeway for the youth and the unemployed.

“We are also in the final stages of submitting benefit-sharing agreements with all the operators in the jurisdictional area to ensure that the indigenous people do not lose out on the extraction of their natural resources.

“We only lament the fact that not all people see the good intentions of this authority to better the livelihoods of the people it leads. However, we believe that in good time, the Dâure Daman people will realise the importance of unity in nation building,” he said.

The Namibian this year reported that Gregory Huseb, a community member, said even with the green hydrogen pilot project, the residents feel excluded as there are no consultations with the community and the traditional authority single-handedly handed over land for the Dâures Green Hydrogen Pilot project.

“That land is the breeding grounds of the wildlife in the Dâures constituency, from where the community was making a living,” he said.

Huseb is a member of the Tsiseb conservancy management committee.

He said out of the 200 jobs that were available during the construction of the pilot project, only eight or ten people from Uis were employed. Out of the Dâures constituency, he says maybe 80 locals received jobs.

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,” he said.

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