Namibia: Zambezi Board Rejects Tobacco

Source from:  Namibian 09/05/2016

The Zambezi Communal Land Board has rejected an application by a Chinese majority-owned company to set up a tobacco plantation in the region.

Namibia Oriental Tobacco CC, a firm co-owned by Swapo's Oshikoto regional coordinator Armas Amukwiyu, received 10 000 hectares (equal to 10 000 football fields) at Liselo, on the outskirts of Katima Mulilo　in the Zambezi region from the authorities.

The company wants to produce tobacco and maize on the land. Before they could go ahead with their plans, however, they needed approval from several government bodies such as the regional land board, which would make recommendations to the lands minister.

The minister will have the last word on whether to give the go-ahead for the project on the land, or not.

Although the board decision to reject the plantation was taken in May last year, the land board only wrote to the ministry of lands this year to explain that they do not agree with the proposed tobacco plantation.

The chairperson of the Zambezi Communal Land Board, Regina Ndopu-Lubinda, wrote a recommendation letter in April to the permanent secretary in the ministry of land reform, Peter Amutenya.

She confirmed this to The Namibian yesterday, saying the ministry responded to the land board, but then declined to comment further.

"It is an internal matter for now. We cannot release any information to the media until a decision has been made. The minister can decide to consider our recommendation, or set it aside," she stated.

The letter, seen by The Namibian, shows that Ndopu-Lubinda mentioned that the board had decided, in the interest of Namibians, not to recommend the tobacco component of the Namibia Oriental Tobacco plan, but approved the maize production part since the board believes it is environmentally and economically viable.

The board advised the company that it will only entertain their application if they stick to maize production and discard the idea of planting tobacco. The board further suggested that they should consider reducing the size of the required land from 10 000 hectares to 3 000 hectares.

According to the board, Amukwiyu and his Chinese partners should also reduce the lease period of the land from their proposed 99 years to a 25-year lease deal. The board also recommended that the company fulfils the conditions set down by the environment ministry and that of the ministry of agriculture regarding bulk water and forest clearance permits.

The board said that given the sensitivity of the tobacco application, including all the issues and concerns raised in the objections, they resolved to finalise the recommendation, and to submit the application to the minister of land reform for a final decision.

The minister will then decide, based on the recommendations made by the Zambezi Regional Land Board, the letter said.

Politician and businessman Amukwiyu told The Namibian yesterday that they are yet to decide on how to react to the rejection.

"We are going to sit and decide how we will move forward," he stated.

Lands ministry spokesperson Chrispin Matongela said he is not aware of the letter containing the board's recommendations. He said minister of land reform Utoni Nujoma would be in a better position to confirm whether he had received such a letter.

Matongela, however, said Nujoma was not in office, and will only return next week. He added that the lands minister can still use his own power to accept or overrule the recommendations by the land board.

Zambezi governor Lawrence Sampofu said the land board does not have the power to reject applications, but they can only make recommendations to the minister.

Three objections were made by various people against the proposed tobacco plant by Namibia Tobacco Oriental, the board said.

"These objections were from different concerned representatives of the Namibian community. Their objections related to the size of land applied for by Namibia Tobacco Oriental; the type of land use applied

for; and the health concerns among Namibian children," the board noted.

After receiving the objections, the board called the investors to a Zambezi Communal Land Board meeting, where they were asked to make a presentation on how they plan to use the 10 000 hectares of land.

"During the presentation, the company representative of Namibia Oriental Tobacco explained that the company intended to grow tobacco on a large scale for export purposes, as well as cultivate maize on a small scale to cater for local markets," the board said.

After the presentation, the board discussed the issue, and resolved to make a decision based on the interests of all Namibians by rejecting their application.

The letter to the ministry of lands this year is not the first correspondence where the regional board rejected the tobacco plan. In fact, Ndopu-Lubinda wrote to Namibia Oriental Tobacco CC on 27 May 2015.

"At its ordinary meeting held at the Mukusi Cabins from 27 to 30 April 2015, the Zambezi Communal Land Board resolved not to recommend your application for grant approval to the minister due to health, environmental and socio-economic concerns," the board stated.

Ndopu-Lubinda told the company that "the board also resolved to advise and inform the applicant to change the land use (specifications) as the applicant applied for a tobacco and maize project - to remove tobacco, and only concentrate on maize farming as tobacco is not good for human consumption". Enditem