Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform Minister Inge Zaamwani has pledged to tackle rampant unethical practices in the fisheries sector that hinder the successful implementation of government empowerment policies.
Speaking in Luderitz on Tuesday during the final fishing industry engagement for the year, the minister said that government is aware of serious corporate governance violations by some right-holding companies, mostly regarding beneficiation and fair dividend distribution.
“Regrettably there are some fishing companies that secured rights using names and identities of marginalised and disadvantaged communities. However, after obtaining the right, a familiar and disgraceful pattern emerges: these communities are side-lined, denied access to financial information including dividend policies, and in some cases, are subsequently told that they are shareholders,” the minister said.
This behavior, she said, is unjust, unethical, and contrary to the spirit of government empowerment policies. “Using people as a ladder to climb, then only to kick that ladder away is unethical and will no longer be tolerated.”
To combat these issues, the fisheries ministry plans to introduce the long-delayed scorecard next year, which will evaluate performance based on catch, compliance, employment creation, local procurement and good governance.
Zaamwani said the scorecard will separate true partners in development from mere participants.
“The scorecard will expose such practices, and be rest assured that the ministry will take firm corrective actions to address these perpetual malpractices. These practices lead to the ministry becoming deeply involved in trying to resolve governance disputes, which take up a lot time and strenuous efforts for all parties.”
Despite calls for a public beneficial ownership register for all companies holding rights or quotas, no major reform of the fishing rights system has occurred in Namibia, even after the country’s major corruption scandal, Fishrot, broke out in 2019.
According to a 2022 briefing paper from the Institute of Public Policy Research, Namibia’s members of parliament have, over the years, shown little appetite for reforming the fisheries sector to ensure transparency and accountability.
“Fishrot – to a great degree – was enabled by the secrecy in which the Fisheries Ministry operates in Namibia. There are no publicly available lists or registers of the companies that receive rights and quotas or the vessels that are licensed to fish in Namibian waters. There is certainly no attempt to compile and publish anything that resembles a beneficial ownership register for the fishing industry,” it said.
