Environmental Commissioner Timoteus Mufeti says draft regulations aimed at governing sand mining activities in the country are being consolidated following nationwide stakeholder consultations, as authorities move to tighten enforcement amid growing concerns over non-compliance.
Mufeti said the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism has already conducted consultations with stakeholders, including traditional authorities, to gather input on the proposed regulatory framework. One final engagement is expected before the draft regulations are refined, submitted and gazetted.
“We have got draft regulations. Two weeks ago, we went around the country to talk to stakeholders, traditional authorities, everybody, to present the elements of the regulations that we have and to get their input,” Mufeti said.
He said the proposed regulations are expected to introduce enforceable legal provisions, including penalties and compliance requirements aimed at regulating sand mining activities, particularly in northern regions where extraction activities have intensified due to growing development pressures.
“This is an activity that involves money. Always where you get money, you could get a lot of issues and a lot of problems,” Mufeti said.
Authorities have identified governance and enforcement gaps in communal areas, where sand mining oversight is expected to fall under traditional leadership structures. However, Mufeti said enforcement challenges persist partly because some traditional authorities are themselves involved in sand extraction activities.
“Some traditional authorities are also mining, that’s an issue, so the regulations were set out for these issues,” he said.
Mufeti said the ministry expects the finalisation process to be completed by June, after which the regulations will be submitted for gazetting to formally make them law.
“Once it’s done, our plan is to go back, maybe around June, with the draft final regulations. Once we get the okay, then we submit them, then we gazette them. Now that becomes law,” he said.
He said the proposed enforcement framework is expected to include powers to confiscate equipment, open criminal cases and impose penalties, including imprisonment, for non-compliance.
The regulations are expected to mark a significant tightening of oversight over Namibia’s sand mining sector, which has increasingly come under scrutiny over environmental damage and unregulated extraction activities.
