Hyphen promises thousands of jobs for Namibians

Hyphen Hydrogen Energy will implement stringent measures to combat fronting and prevent politically connected appointments, its head of environment, social and governance Toni Beukes said.She added that the company will ensure that all Namibians have a level playing field when it comes to accessing opportunities arising from the project.This comes at a time when everyone is looking to the Hyphen project as the remedy to the country’s skyrocketing unemployment rate - amid concerns that the political elite and those with connections might monopolise these opportunities.Hyphen estimated that it will employ around 15 000 people during the construction phase and approximately 3 000 during operations, while it will procure 30% of its products and services from local service providers.Beukes said the company is fully committed to making sure jobs and opportunities are not hogged by political elite and those connected to decision-makers.“We are doing a stakeholder mapping exercise and we will go to the youth, the business community, the construction and financial sector to get to a comprehensive plan.“I worked in compliance - you have tools where you can submit names to determine how politically connected a person is. This allows you to do a risk analysis, so I can say this is not going to happen, because this is not what Hyphen stands for,” she said.Complex problemShe also emphasised that Hyphen is committed to implementing well-defined policies that clearly outline what corruption and kickbacks looks like, and to foster an environment where staff feel free to report such issues whenever they arise.“It is a complex problem, because there may be multiple players that are trying to evade the rules. So, it’s not as simple as Hyphen coming in saying we will eradicate all fronting. The point is we are going to have clear policies that foster transparency, but everyone in the value chain has a role to play,” Beukes said.“We could potentially have a scenario where we will not have sufficient local capacity in the country and South African companies could come in and register local entities to capture opportunities under the project."However, to ensure that we prioritise Namibian participation, we will have to look at shareholding structures and give preferential treatment to such companies that have Namibian shareholders, where those Namibians are actively involved in the business and part of its decision-making. That would be a sustainable way to partner with external companies,” she said.Fronting generally refers to window-dressing, where black employees are listed as beneficiaries, directors or shareholders, but have little to no decision-making power.RealitiesFormer youth member of parliament Veikko Nekundi has for long been vocal about what he terms the &#039;rent a darkie&#039; phenomenon perpetuated South African companies, and the alleged lack of genuine effort from these companies to embrace and promote black employees.He has criticised them largely for allegedly appointing black individuals to management positions without giving them decision-making power, while black CEOs and managers are reportedly appointed as symbolic figures - while actual decision-making occurs in South Africa.jemima@namibiansun.com

Hyphen promises thousands of jobs for Namibians

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-17

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Hyphen promises thousands of jobs for Namibians

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-17

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