Alweendo tells mines to procure locally

OGONE TLHAGE



WINDHOEK

Mines minister Tom Alweendo says mining companies should make greater effort to procure goods and services locally.

He made the comments last week at the Chamber of Mines of Namibia Expo.

According to Alweendo, while procurement spend locally was significant, mining companies were still procuring goods and services from outside Namibia.

“Section 50(d) of the Minerals Act stipulates that mining companies may only procure goods and services abroad if such goods or services are not available in Namibia.

“Today, mining companies are still procuring from foreign companies, outside of the country, while local companies could potentially provide such goods and services,” he said.

Breach the gap

Mining companies spend N$12.3 billion on procurement, a figure Alweendo said could benefit local businesses.

“Even though the figure looks good, there is still a difference between [foreign-owned] Namibian registered companies and Namibian-owned companies. A significant portion of the local procurement amount still goes to foreign-owned Namibian registered companies. This gap needs to be breached,” Alweendo said.

The minister added that tough questions need to be asked regarding the role of the mining sector in the economy.

“The Namibian mining industry accounts for 50% of our exports. It is in this regard that I certainly believe that mining must look towards building resilience in its value chains, from suppliers to downstream customers.

“If we are going to continue to play an instrumental role in ensuring that the sector becomes a catalyst for economic development, we need to ask ourselves some tough - but necessary - questions about our future as an industry,” he added.