Local fishing entrants give back to communities

WINDHOEKSTAFF REPORTER Five local companies that were last year jointly granted seven-year horse mackerel quotas, this week honoured their pledge to plough back some of their proceeds to needy communities. Under the chairmanship of former Windhoek mayor Matheus Shikongo, the Hefdy Group of Companies consists of Human Capital Fishing, Egongelo Fishing Company, Fibresha Investment, Dorado Fishing Enterprise and Young Rangers Fishing Company. During a ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Windhoek on Monday, the group awarded N$200 000 in donations to Namibia Primary School, the Republic of Namibia Drought Relief Fund, the Grant Victor Pesat Trust Fund, the ELK Kringraad in Usakos and to the Oshikoto Education Trust Fund. Each of these beneficiaries received a cheque of N$40 000 each. “We are mindful of the fact that our donation might not be able to cater for all the needs of our beneficiaries, but we are trying to ease the burden”, Shikongo said at the handing-over ceremony. “You can take comfort in knowing that Hefdy is not planning to only rely on horse mackerel as a source of revenue, but we are planning to reinvent some of that money into related industries that have a high labour component of a permanent nature,” Shikongo said. To this end, he added, the group is looking at starting aquaculture plants, including with abalone, mussels and oysters. Monday's donations follow similar acts of charity earlier this year in which five other recipients were given a total of N$155 000. A total N$902 235 in donations was handed by the group to 17 beneficiaries last year.