The Namibian oil is ours

In establishing ownership of Namibian oil, the only authoritative source is the Namibian Constitution.Our Constitution, while it recognises common and customary laws, is ultimately the supreme law. (Article 14(6). It is worth mentioning the word “shall” used in the referenced Article.If one is to contrast the words “shall” and “may”, the former is, depending on the context, primarily mandatory by nature, while the latter implies a discretionary approach.The Namibian Constitution states that the “.... natural resources below and above the surface of the land and in the continental shelf and within the territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone of Namibia shall belong to the State, if they are not otherwise lawfully owned.” (Article 100).The author is not aware of any lawful ownership of any of Namibia’s natural resources by an entity other than the state and the Namibian people it represents, other than through temporary concessions granted by the state to private profiteers for certain considerations to the state.Asked and answeredFurther reading of the Constitution will reveal that even if lawfully owned, despite the protection of private ownership, the state, through parliamentary process, may pass legislation to acquire property by persons who are not Namibian citizens and to expropriate property in the public interest, provided certain conditions are met. (See Article 16)This means that the state can always reclaim it lawfully, provided it is done in accordance with the law. The state can also allow you to keep it, contingent on something, e.g., considerations for the extraction of and commercial benefit from the resources, through the payment of a royalty (currently pegged at five percent for oil and gas), annual licence fees, petroleum income tax, and profit tax, local beneficiation requirements, as is the recent case for lithium, etc.The question of whether the oil is ours is clearly a wasteful exercise already answered in the affirmative by the Constitution since 1990. All members of parliament, when taking office, swear to uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution. Therefore, what the Constitution says stands until it is thrown out. The Constitution can only be thrown out through a military takeover or a repeal process, as per Article 132.Our Constitution imposes a duty on all members of parliament to regard themselves as servants of the people (Article 60). The conduct, duties and obligations of both the leaders and the subjects and their relationship are regulated by the Constitution, which Rosseau terms the “social contract.”Therefore, denying that the resources are ours is tantamount to economic treason, leading to the loss of economic sovereignty. It is a declaration against the Constitution and, as such, a coup d&#039;état by civilian means.Future generationsAs the leading presidential candidate in the upcoming election, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has stated, it is up to us to find practical meaning in giving effect to the "spirit, purport and objects" of the supreme law of the land, the Constitution. Given that we are not the first to have discovered oil, we need to objectively look at other countries, through a transparent process. The Arab nations successfully made changes to the original concessions; Saudi Arabia, within twelve years of the original discovery, renegotiated a 50-50 profit share. Botswana managed to do the same with her diamonds, renegotiating for greater ownership of the value chain and increasing local beneficiation, despite naysayers’ reservations about the viability thereof. Given that the advent of a new administration is imminent, whoever is involved in the said industry should be directed and guided not to rush into committing us, given the current understanding of the ownership issue. We should avoid a situation where natural resources are retirement packages confined to the strong and the fastest and their kith and kin. The resources belong not only to the living but also to future generations, who would be left bereft of their benefit once they are exhausted without the current generation having extracted the maximum economic value from them.We should therefore support the presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah when she says the oil belongs to all Namibians and her stance on natural resource beneficiation to create sustainable industries and employment for our youth. We should carefully reflect upon and earnestly develop a legal and regulatory framework that will make the oil discovery work for all of us.* The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the institution(s) to which he is affiliated.

The Namibian oil is ours

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-18

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The Namibian oil is ours

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-18

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