Banner Left
Banner Right

Traditional authorities on collision course over Goantagab Mine

A legal dispute between three neighbouring conservancies in the Kunene region over the reopening of Goantagab Mine is straining their once peaceful relationship.

The three neighbouring conservancies fall under two traditional authorities – the Daure Daman Traditional Authority and the Aodaman Traditional Authority.

Chief Zacharias Seibeb of the Daure Daman Traditional Authority has taken issue with the Sorris Sorris Conservancy being cited as one of the respondents in a case involving two other conservancies under the Aodaman Traditional Authority.

Seibeb wrote to the acting chief of the Aodaman Traditional Authority, asking why she and the conservancies under her had taken Sorris Sorris Conservancy to court over the Goantagab Mine issue without consulting him.

He also wrote to tourism operator Ultimate Safaris on 31 December last year, accusing the company of operating illegally in his area of jurisdiction.

Sorris Sorris Conservancy falls under the Daure Daman Traditional Authority, while the Uibasen Twyfelfontein and Doro !Nawas belong to the Aodaman Traditional Authority.

The Uibasen Twyfelfontein, Doro !Nawas and the Aodoman Traditional Authority joined Ultimate Safaris as applicants in a court case opposing Sorris Sorris and Ottille Ndimulunde, the owner of mining claims at Goantagab Mine, regarding the reopening of the mine.

The three applicants obtained an interim interdict from High Court judge Colin Parker on 2 December for all mining activities in the area to stop following a hearing on 8 November 2024.

“The Daure Daman Traditional Authority (TA) is directing this communique to your office with dismay, knowing that your actions can strain our longstanding peaceful relationship . . .

“Your claim for areas that are not within your area of jurisdiction and taking the Daure Daman TA to court without consulting me as the custodian of the area in question, is not acceptable,” reads part of the letter to the Aodaman TA.

MORE JOBS

The Daure Daman TA and some of its people support the reopening of the mine in the Sorris Sorris Conservancy, as they believe it would create more jobs for them.

However, the Aodaman TA, the two conservancies under it and Ultimate Safaris claim that mining operations would drive the endangered black rhino out of its natural habitat and thereby kill the tourism industry.

The three conservancies signed an agreement on 15 September 2018 to establish a joint management area, the Red Mountain joint management area (JMA), on part of their land sharing a common boundary.

However, the application for the joint leasehold over the area was rejected by the Kunene Communal Land Board in a letter dated 11 January 2024, signed by board chairperson Ernst Amporo.

The land board rejected the application because the conservancies wanted a 99-year lease with exclusive rights over 27 867.34 ha.

This was confirmed by Uibasen Twyfelfontein Conservancy manager Laurencia Naobes, who says they took Sorris Sorris to court because they had reneged on a contractual agreement the three conservancies signed to form the Red Mountain JMA, where they would implement a game management utilisation plan.

However, Herman Naruseb, a senior counsellor for the Daure Daman TA and a mining consultant, says the existence of the Doros/Red Mountain JMA depended on getting permission for its establishment from the minister through the Kunene Communal Land Board.

‘NO BINDING AGREEMENT’

Now that the application had been rejected, the agreement was no longer binding and each conservancy could act independently of the others.

He says the biggest beneficiary in the JMA would have been Ultimate Safaris who would allegedly have had exclusive rights to the area for 99 years.

This was, however, denied by Ultimate Safaris managing director Tristan Cowley, who says his company only signed a 25-year contract with the three conservancies through its Camp Doros establishment opened in 2023 to operate in the JMA with the three conservancies.

He rejected Naruseb’s call for mining operations co-existing with tourism activities.

“While mining and tourism are important sectors of the economy, they cannot coexist in an area where one has potential of displacing the other,” Cowley says.

He yesterday rejected accusations that Ultimate Safaris was operating illegally in the Sorris Sorris Conservancy.

“Last year we paid about N$10.5 million to the three conservancies and the chief was one of the beneficiaries. How does he now say we are operating illegally and expect to benefit?” he asked.

Naruseb called for the coexistence of mining and tourism, saying it would increase revenue for the Sorris Sorris Conservancy and also create more jobs for the people.

“Sorris Sorris Conservancy only has one operating tourism facility – the Madisa campsite – and revenue from that is not enough to cover our needs as a conservancy. That is why we support the reopening of Goantagab Mine to increase our revenue streams,” he says.

Cowley, however, said the highly mechanised type of mining Sinco Holdings want to conduct at Goantagab Mine would scare away the endangered black rhino, removing the tourism draw card.

Ultimate Safaris blames the Office of the Environmental Commissioner for failing to assess the impact of mining on both rhinos and existing tourism activities before issuing environmental clearance certificates that allowed Ottilie Ndimulunde to re-open the mine.

Efforts to get comment from environmental commissioner Timoteus Mufeti were unsuccessful.

– email: matthew@namibian.com.na

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News