Statement by Panduleni Itula, president of the Independent Patriots for Change and leader of the official opposition. Windhoek, 23 February 2026.
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Fellow citizens,
I do not make allegations, I present evidence. I do not speculate, I diagnose. What I am about to present to you is a diagnosis of capture, a capture of Namibia’s petroleum future by a single political family and its commercial network, operating across every segment of the oil value chain.
The president told an untruth to the nation.
The president’s son sells diesel at the oil port.
The president’s husband is patron of the National Energy Youth Forum.
The N$4 billion tender was killed. Swapo’s own donors and the secretary general’s network are taking its place.
Now let us unravel this.
On 3 February 2026, the president of the Republic of Namibia told the nation, and I quote, “I state categorically and without reservation that my children have no interests, direct or indirect, in the oil and gas sector.”
That was untrue.
The journalist who asked the question, Ms Jemima Beukes of The Whistle, was reportedly physically removed from State House in a manner that raised eyebrows.
Today we provide the evidence the president demanded, obtained from her son’s own website, the first gentleman’s own patronage, Swapo’s own donor list, and publicly available corporate records.
Why do I say the president’s statement is false?
The president’s son, Tate Nande Ndaitwah, is chief executive officer and co-founder of Tradeport Namibia (Pty) Ltd. Tradeport’s own public website confirms:
• “Bonded diesel” is listed as a core commodity.
• “Fuel imports and wholesale distribution” is listed as one of four principal business lines.
• The company employs a dedicated head of fuel distribution, Jacques Marais.
• The company operates from the Port of Lüderitz, the designated site for the N$4 billion oil supply base.
Diesel is a petroleum product, classified under the Petroleum Products and Energy Act. Fuel import and wholesale distribution is an activity within the oil and gas sector by any reasonable definition.
The president said, and I quote, “no interests, direct or indirect, in the oil and gas sector.”
The president’s son’s company website says, “Fuel imports and wholesale distribution.” One of these statements is false.
Either the president did not know what her son’s company does, or the president knew and chose to mislead the nation. Neither answer is acceptable for a head of state.
The statement was also carefully lawyered: the denial covered “children” but not “family”; it addressed “oil and gas sector” but not the petroleum value chain; and it denied “interests” without defining the term.
The president answered the question: “Do your children own oil companies?” But not: “Is your family involved in the petroleum value chain?” That is a classic non-denial denial. The evidence shows why.
On 17 July 2025, first gentleman Epaphras Denga Ndaitwah officially accepted the role of patron of the Namibia Youth Energy Forum.
The chairperson of the forum’s advisory board is Miguel Hamutenya who simultaneously serves as:
• chief executive officer of Millennium Investment Holdings
• regional executive manager of Validus Energy
• co-founder and director of Nasan Energies
In June 2025, a Namibia Youth Energy Forum delegation led by Hamutenya met the president’s upstream petroleum unit at State House.
In November 2025, the forum held its flagship ‘Namibia Energy Connect’ event at Droombos Estate under the patronage of the Office of the First Gentleman.
The president’s husband is patron of a forum chaired by the man who controls Namibia’s largest petroleum joint venture with Vitol and is simultaneously acquiring the country’s largest independent fuel retail network.
Two of the president’s three sons are positioned within the petroleum value chain.
Son one: Tate Nande Ndaitwah, chief executive officer of Tradeport Namibia. Anchor tenant at Lüderitz port. Distributes diesel. Namport’s top revenue client in 2023.
Son two: Ndelitungapo Ndaitwah, lawyer who co-founded Vaneli Foods CC, listed as a subsidiary of Millennium Investment Holdings.
The president’s son’s company is linked to the conglomerate at the centre of Namibia’s petroleum network.
Now let us turn our attention to Tradeport.
Tradeport was founded in 2018 during her tenure as deputy prime minister. Its partners were state-owned enterprises Namport and TransNamib. It became the anchor customer at Lüderitz without competitive tender, claiming a N$3 billion economic contribution and moving 80 000 tonnes of manganese per month.
In May 2023, an Ernst & Young forensic audit found prima facie evidence of potential fraud and theft in Tradeport’s relationship with TransNamib, including procuring on behalf of the state entity in a manner that bypassed procurement law. The report was buried. No Public Accounts Committee investigation. No Anti-Corruption Commission action.
Tradeport already operates at Lüderitz: fuel distribution, port handling, rail coordination, storage and wholesale logistics. An oil supply base requires exactly the same services. The diesel business is not the end game. It is the entry ticket.
In August 2025, Namport issued an open DBOOT tender for the Lüderitz oil supply base with strict pre-qualification criteria. Days later, the tender was cancelled without public explanation.
The Namibian’s Investigation Unit reported that a faction pushed the project through the Namibia Industrial Development Agency and Guinas Investments (Pty) Ltd, a Swapo-owned company. Guinas had previously submitted an unsolicited bid which Namport rejected. It returned through the Namibia Industrial Development Agency with Alpha Nautical Services, a Ghanaian crew boat operator with no supply base construction experience.
What was rejected at the front door came back through the side door. The sequence establishes intent.
Guinas Investments is a Swapo-owned company chaired by Josef Andreas, a close associate of Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa. Guinas is alleged to have financed the construction of the N$1 billion Swapo headquarters.
The Swapo September 2024 fundraising gala raised N$16,3 million. The donor list includes oil and drilling donors.
The same people funding Swapo’s election campaigns are the same people being positioned to capture the oil infrastructure. The party and the deal are the same transaction.
The full value chain, from wellhead to forecourt:
Upstream: The Presidency. The Petroleum amendment bill transfers petroleum exploration licence licensing to the president. All petroleum exploration licence files were moved to the presidency in January 2026.
Midstream: Tate Ndaitwah and Tradeport. Anchor tenant at Lüderitz. Fuel distribution. Port logistics. Oil supply base positioning.
Downstream wholesale: Millennium and Hamutenya via Validus Energy.
Downstream retail: Nasan Energies acquiring 53 Engen and Shell stations from Vivo.
Coordination: Namibia Youth Energy Forum. Patron: the first gentleman. Chair: Miguel Hamutenya. Meets the presidency’s petroleum unit at State House.
Corporate bridge: Ndelitungapo Ndaitwah and Vaneli Foods, listed as a Millennium subsidiary.
This is not a collection of separate scandals. It is one integrated system operating across every segment of the petroleum value chain.
One family. One system. Wellhead to pump.
The petroleum amendment bill, tabled in February 2026, transfers petroleum licensing authority from the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy to the Presidency. A president whose son distributes diesel at the oil port wants personal control over who gets oil licences.
First gentleman Denga Ndaitwah himself said of the oil sector: “In that field, it is where most people can simply be corrupted. Because it is so lucrative.”
Every structural element of Fishrot is present: high-value resource sector, transparent process corrupted, foreign company as vehicle, Swapo insiders as beneficiaries, state institution weaponised, campaign financing from interested parties and journalists threatened. But this time there are additional documented family corporate bridges and formal first family patronage of the sector coordination hub.
The Independent Patriots for Change opposes the petroleum amendment bill in its entirety. No president with these conflicts of interest should hold licensing authority over the oil sector. We call on all members of parliament, including those within Swapo, to reject this bill.
Madam President: your son’s own website is the evidence. Your husband’s patronage is the evidence. Your party’s own donor list is the evidence. You demanded proof. It was on the internet the entire time.
To all Namibians: everything we have presented today is publicly available. The government thought we would not look. We looked, and now you can too.
Namibia is all we have.
Namibia is not for sale.
We must and can save it.
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