The Joint Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources is concerned that the state has no legal provision to acquire shares in mineral rights except for mineral agreements.
A report from a workshop held on May 29, 2023, says the state owns about 3.4%, 7.5% and 10% shares in various mining companies, which is of great concern.
The report says that shareholding is only between Namibia and De Beers, where shareholding is 50/50.
“The royalty rates are very low and fail to promote value addition because the commodities are exported in raw form.
“Only about N$8 billion was collected from royalties for five years,” the report says.
The report says the state should make a strategic decision because there is concern about Epangelo Mining borrowing money to buy shares from mining companies.
“There are sentiments that the state must acquire shares from the mining companies right from the onset for free rather than waiting to buy shares from those companies,” the report states.
It added that the state owns the mineral resources as enshrined in the Constitution.
According to the report, based on these findings, the committees recognised the importance of engaging different stakeholders to discuss the state of the mining and oil sectors, focusing on issues related to natural resource governance, state shareholding, the potential economic benefit from green hydrogen projects, petroleum, and energy supply.
The committee also wants to check the progress in implementing the Mineral Beneficiation Strategy and related diversification strategies.
The report says mining companies are not doing enough in terms of corporate social responsibilities.
The reason, according to the report, is that social responsibility is at the discretion of the mining companies, which have no legal obligation to engage in corporate social responsibility.
Another concern was mining companies that use private airstrips, for which the committee said regulations and monitoring are needed to ensure that they do not transport diamonds and other minerals.
The committee noted salary discrepancies, a lack of medical aid and pension, contract employment, flooding, a lack of infrastructure development, high utility costs, low commodity prices, and the high cost of skilled labour.
The report says the ministry has a laboratory for testing minerals, but it needs to be up to international standards and, therefore, not accredited or recognised by global investors.
“The establishment of an accredited lab has been in the plan but failed to take off due to a lack of funds.
“The lab must be part of public service delivery to the nation and not be left in the hands of the private sector,” the report says.
