The Chamber of Mines says it has reached an agreement with the government that will see players in the country’s mining sector only complying with a minimum 5% shareholding in line with the proposed Namibia Equitable, Economic and Empowerment Framework (NEEEF).
The government, as part of the proposed regulation, had been gunning for a minimum 25% equity.
“Our deliberations with the government yielded tangible results in easing investors’ worries relating to the drafting and implementation of the long awaited Namibia Equitable, Economic and Empowerment Framework (NEEEF). Our involvement as the Chamber was de-risking because NEEEF was seen by investors as a risk to their investment, thus we had to move in to ease contentions. Following protracted deliberations and adoptions of our suggestions, we were then able to tell investors that the risk has been mitigated,” Chamber of Mines CEO Veston Malango said on Tuesday.
“In addition we said, we now embrace the new reforms, therefore we don’t see why the investors and their business should feel threatened because us as the umbrella body are in allegiance. We dealt with the proposed legislation by engaging the government on all contentious issues more especially on the proposed 25% shareholding.”
Malango said the initial proposed shareholding had brought uncertainty among existing and potential investors.
“Foreign investors and well established businesses felt it was not fair to impose such a high percentile legislation, while others feared property expropriation. It was further viewed to be counter-effective to foreign direct investments,” he said.
“Through continuous efforts, we were able to convince the government that, instead of putting a threshold, it should let each sector decide on what works best, therefore advocating for the adoption of flexibility.”
“That is why you don’t find any complaints related to the 25% though the empowerment bills are still there. Our stance is that, as a sector, each can now determine what works best for them, hence we suggested to pin the minimum at 5% while maximum can be anything. Because of this flexibility it was determined that 5% is doable,” he reiterated.
NEEEF is proposed to restructure the private business sector through empowerment of previously disadvantages persons and to provide a policy framework which includes empowerment policies of Government and private sector initiatives.
Namibia’s mining sector which recorded a 21.6% growth 2022 of 21.6% compared to 11% in 2021, is a key contributor to the country’s economy, contributing 12.2% to GDP in 2022.
According to the Chamber of Mines, the industry provided 16,147 local jobs in 2022, of which 8,391 are permanent, 742 temporary and 7,014 contractors.
