We demand answers

REV. MIKE YATES, ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF NAMIBIA WRITES:Questions to be answered by the Namibia Government and the mining entity ReconAfrica.A flood of excitement accompanied the announcement that a Canadian oil and gas company had reason to believe that gas and oil reserves had been found in Namibia.The company involved in promoting this rumor was ReconAfrica, a minor exploration company, who had managed to convince some Canadian citizens that an oil/gas resource had been located in the Kavango Basin.Since this news broke, a number of well-placed international governments have casted doubt on the authenticity of this claim and have urged due diligence and caution.It is a well excepted fact that Namibia has been thoroughly explored by many experienced geologists over many decades since at least 1892. First by the German colonial power and thereafter by the British and South Africans in turn, until independence in 1990.No oil/gas has ever been found in Namibia, for the simple reason that the underlying geology is not recognized to be conducive to petroleum reserves.THE RUN-UPScanty information has been released to the Namibian public regarding drilling operations by ReconAfrica. Most ordinary Namibians only learned of the drilling initiative on or around Friday 15th January 2021, when Risk-Based Solutions advertised a series of meetings with local communities in the Kavango Region.Rather curiously, all the initial meetings were arranged in the extreme north of Namibia in the Kavango West Region, in the Kavango East Region, and a cluster of other local village communities over several days.No public meetings were arranged in any of the major towns except Rundu.Requests to Dr. Sindila Mwiya of Risk Based Solutions to have a public meeting in Windhoek, was met with resistance. Not surprisingly, this response further served to strengthen the suspicion that there could be events and actions that perhaps people wish to hide from the Namibian public.Pressure applied by some environmental groups resulted in two meetings in Windhoek itself.These two meetings duly took place as promised. However, some of those present were not satisfied with the lack of crucial information supplied and because of evasive answers provided. The ReconAfrica team dominated the discussions and did not give a fair chance to agitated Namibians to have their concerns addressed properly. This gave the impression that ReconAfrica were uncomfortable with questions being posed to them from the floor. Admittedly, the time restriction of two hours because of Covid-19, did restrict a proper and thorough discussion.A further concern is the apparent failure of ReconAfrica to properly engage all the local communities affected by the drilling operations, and to take their concerns into account. What compensations were these communities given? How will the devastation wrought by the first drilling slimes-dam be cleaned up and rehabilitated?WHAT NOW?At the time of writing, the first exploration well has been drilled to a depth of 3 500 meters. We understand that drilling has stopped and that no traces of oil or gave has been found.Preparations are now underway to drill the second well.There is considerable damage at the first drilling and mining site, which can be seen from aerial photographs of the drilling rig and the slimes dam. We have been informed that the slimes dam does not have a lining – a basic precaution in this type of drilling, to avoid pollution into the ground water. If this is correct, it means that the toxic chemicals mixed with the water from drilling, will inevitably seep into the deep-water aquifers. This seepage is likely to pollute and contaminate the aquifers.Another issue of great importance is the matter of compensation by ReconAfrica to the local communities, who have also suffered numerous inconveniences, toxic waste, ingestion of harmful products in the water and the air, and crop losses with the disruption of their rural lifestyle.Loss of cattle grazing is another serious problem along with habitat destruction and polluted water. Who will compensate these rural people who rely on the land to survive? We need answers please!We respectfully request that action now to be taken to avoid further pollution of the land and water resources of this remote community whose lives have been so comprehensively changed.The question of proper compensation should not be ignored, and we call on both ReconAfrica and the Government of the Republic of Namibia, to look into this matter and to compensate the communities concerned. We suggest that some non-state actors should be involved in this process.Your indulgence is appreciated.

We demand answers

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Republikein 2026-04-07

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We demand answers

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Republikein 2026-04-07

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