By:Megameno Shinana
A parliamentary standing committee on economics meeting with the mines minister Tom Alweendo and his team ended on a heated note yesterday afternoon.
The discussions focused on the management of Namibia’s mineral resources while huge Lithium exports to China also took centre stage.
The issue of XinFeng Investments’ exportation of 55% Lithium ore to China was thrown to the minister by Swapo party lawmaker, Modestus Amutse, in the very first round of questions minister Alweendo had to deal with.
The meeting came in the wake of the ministry having just recently green-lighted the controversial company to continue with Lithium ore exportation despite an initial ban, further sparking outrage in Namibia.
“I understand that there is an agreement that stipulates that the batteries that are supposed to be manufactured from the products of Lithium should be done locally in Namibia to strengthen our economy and also for the country to derive other related benefits,” Amutse sought clarity.
“But then our understanding is that the ministry of mines gave permission to that mine dealing in Lithium to export up to 55% of Lithium for testing purposes, apparently. Is that information correct, number one? And if it is correct, is 55% not way too much to be exported, just for testing purposes?”the lawmaker fired the first salvo.
“To me it sounds too much; and to me also it does not sound right. To me it sounds as if they (XinFeng) are not interested perhaps, or they are cheating, or they want to make use of a weapon that might exist in our policies to export 55% to their countries,” he said.
In his response, Alweendo put the blame on a failure by the country to identify which minerals can be value-added locally and which cannot.
“Not all minerals can be value-added. It depends on the quantity that you are mining. We could have done better had we identified those commodities we can add value to,” the minister said.
He however could not explain why huge quantities must be shipped for “testing purposes”.
The issue of mining companies importing what Amutse described as “simple equipment that can otherwise be procured locally” and allowing these to be driven on Namibian mines by expats, was also discussed.
Alweendo was grilled on why his ministry was allowing the country to be shortchanged in this way, given that dozens of trucks belonging to locals were being under-utilised.
What has come out, however, is that the giving of licences to foreign companies has of late not been accompanied by a signing of agreements based on what equipment can be procured outside and inside.
The minister explained that, “In terms of the mining licences’ conditions that we give, we have also decided to say not only do we give that mining licence, but we need to sign a mining licence agreement and that agreement can specify some of the things that you are talking about.”
He also said that the challenge is that Namibia does not produce trucks and thus these have to be procured from somewhere else.
“Now the question will always be that if I am going to import the trucks from wherever, is there any difference from the trucks that the company gets from somewhere else? It would have been much easier if we had our own sector that produces the things that we need,”Alweendo further said.
The mines minister has also been queried on how water-tight regulation over the sector was, in light of examples of shattered dreams and broken promises experienced by other nationalities, especially along the gold coast.
“We do not need the same experience in Namibia,” PDM lawmaker Diergaardt Reggie said.
Nico Smit, PDM economist and lawmaker also addressed the “oil-hype” and asked the minister’s team what their predictions are when Namibia will likely become an oil producer and whether indeed there is oil.
“What type of oil is it? I have been told, and correct me please if I am wrong, that the discovery that was made there by Total is sweet oil and not crude oil. Now, as I am being told, sweet oil is actually used for Jets, and cannot be used in motor cars,” Smit wanted to know.
He also wanted to find out whether there was indeed oil in the Etosha basin, adding, “You will recall that some years back it was a huge story in the newspapers that oil had been found there, even people were on TV holding a little bottle of oil saying we have found oil. I think it was cooking oil in that bottle, it could not have been oil,” the PDM lawmaker remarked.
Another PDM lawmaker, Celeste Becker challenged Alweendo to dispatch an investigation team to go and probe claims of diamond looting at Toscanini, a disused old diamond mine located on the coast adjacent to Skeleton Coast Park.
Becker claimed that private planes were landing in the area and flying out with diamonds in the absence of the Namibia Revenue Authority (NamRA) and the mines ministry itself.
“With regards to Toscanini, Mr. Shivolo, I would like to request the ministry to take us to Toscanini so that we can resolve this once and for all. You keep on saying there is nothing going on and I am telling you, there is. They are looting our diamonds from Toscanini and you as the ministry are keeping quiet or you are shrugging your shoulders, you do not know,” she charged.
“I have footage of the material and it is easy because it is big mountains of screened material. So, if I go there and we do not find anything, it means it has been looted. By now you should have gone there and checked; if what I am saying is just silly claims.”
“It is not my job to go and check, it is you as the ministry. What kind of controls do you have there? We also have got information but we are conveying this information to you. We are not instructing you, but as the minister has just said, you need some guidance from us,” she said.