Salt mining: Community remains defiant

The environment and tourism minister, Pohamba Shifeta, says areas within conservancies must be respected and any development must be done with the local community's consent. Shifeta on Friday addressed Otjivalunda and Iipumbu yaTshilongo Community Conservancy members at Eengombe village in Uuvudhiya constituency over plans to introduce salt mining in the area. The community members were overwhelmingly in favour of protecting the area and once again rejected any mining activity. “If we let trona be mined, then there will be no salt and these community-based organisations will be suffering. These salt pans attract people as far as Angola who support these organisations. We are not supporting the mining,” said Nashumba Isak who spoke on behalf of the local conservancy and the Uuvudhiya Constituency Development Committee. Otjivalunda, which is situated north of Etosha National Park, has two salt pans, Otjivalunda 1 in Otamanzi constituency of Omusati Region and Otjivalunda 2 in Uuvudhiya. Both salt pans fall under the jurisdiction of the Uukwambi Traditional Authority. During Friday's meeting Shifeta declined to comment in detail on the proposed salt-mining project, saying it was now a legal matter. However, Shifeta told the community that it was within their rights to reject development affecting them. “The constitution says every development affecting areas under community conservancies must be done with the consent of community members. “One cannot just come and start developing without consulting affected community members. Communities must establish management committees that will be making decisions on behalf of the conservancy,” Shifeta said.The company behind the project, Gecko Namibia, was refused an environmental clearance certificate by environmental commissioner Teofilus Nghitila and they have since appealed the decision. Gecko Namibia started pursuing its plan to mine salt at Otjivalunda during 2012. The project is envisaged to be a partnership between Gecko Namibia, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Gecko Otjivalunda Holdings, which has the financial and technical know-how, and the Ondonga Community Trust Fund and the Uukwambi Community Trust Fund operating as Ondonga-Uukwambi Mining Enterprises (OUME), which is the holder of exclusive prospecting licence (EPL) 4365, which covers 20 650 hectares. Shifeta advised the community to elect committee members to represent them. Traditional authorities should also be co-opted into the structures for their decisions to be legally binding. In fact, the Otjivalunda community has already created the Iipumbu Ya Tshilongo Conservancy and Ekango subcommittees to oppose any mining activity in the pans. Although the project has been rejected by local communities, there is a strong political lobby pushing for the project to continue, Namibian Sun understands. It is also reported that since community members started opposing mining at Otjivalunda during September 2012, the Uukwambi traditional authority representatives have boycotted the conservancy meetings and are still doing so. Members of the local conservancy have accused the traditional authority and the governor of Oshana, Clemens Kashuupulwa, of violating conservation laws by supporting the project. Shifeta also held meetings with Uukwambi chief Herman Ndilimani Iipumbu. At the Eengombe meeting, Kashuupulwa was represented by his special advisor, Michael Mwinga. Gecko Namibia managing director Pine van Wyk recently said they would like to establish a salt-mining and soap-production company. According to Van Wyk, during 2013, Gecko Namibia and OUME, assisted by Enviro Dynamics, conducted a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (EIA) in relation to the proposed salt-mining operations and the construction of a production plant at the Otjivalunda salt pans. The EIA was submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism on 6 December 2013 for environmental clearance, which the environmental commissioner formally declined on 25 July 2014. Gecko Namibia appealed against the decision on 7 August 2014 and is still waiting for the outcome. Nghitila argued that the scope and extent of the proposed project would trigger the forced migration of bird colonies and other wildlife species. He also stated in a letter to Gecko that salt mining might result in the pans drying up. The area had the potential of being recognised as an ecosystem of international importance, he pointed out.ILENI NANDJATO

Salt mining: Community remains defiant

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-19

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Salt mining: Community remains defiant

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-19

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