Justicia Shipena
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has confirmed that former deputy prime minister and minister of industries, mines and energy, Natangue Ithete, was dismissed for violating a presidential moratorium on oil deals.
On Sunday, she dismissed Ithete from the Cabinet, removing him from his roles as deputy prime minister and minister of industries, mines and energy.
She then assumed control of the ministry until a replacement was appointed.
Speaking in a video that surfaced from her closed-door address to ministry staff on Monday, Nandi-Ndaitwah said Ithete went against her directive on upstream oil activities.
“There seem to be things happening in this ministry that I am not aware of as the president. We know that when I took over, I said the upstream will fall under the Office of the President,” she said.
She said she had instructed the minister not to approve any new oil blocks or renew existing ones without consultation.
“That one I agree. I told the minister that, let me first understand and there should be no renewal; there should be no new block given unless we consult one another,” she said while reading out a media report on why Ithete was fired.
Moments after that meeting, presidential press secretary Jonas Mbambo told the media that the reasons behind Ithete’s dismissal would not be revealed and that no further information would be made public until further notice.
Reports this week indicated that Ithete was dismissed for renewing an expired oil block licence without approval, in breach of the moratorium.
The Namibian Sun reported that his recent trip to Angola also caused concern after it was alleged that oil matters were discussed without the president’s consent.
The licence, according to reports, was first issued in 2011, had expired but was reportedly renewed two months ago, allegedly without following required procedures.
When Nandi-Ndaitwah took office in March, she moved the management of the oil and gas sector under her office. At that time, she stated that she made the move to enhance oversight and guarantee equitable benefit distribution.
Ithete had publicly called for Namibia to increase its stake in natural resource projects, suggesting the state should own up to 50%.
Ithete had been appointed to his Cabinet positions during March.
Namibia plans to begin crude oil production by 2030 after several major offshore discoveries in the Orange Basin.
The sixth National Development Plan (NDP6), launched in July, sets a goal of producing 150 million barrels of oil by 2030.
The country is estimated to hold 11 billion barrels of oil and 2.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Through partnerships between Namcor and international oil companies, Namibia drilled 28 offshore and 10 onshore exploratory wells, along with 15 appraisal wells, by 2024.
This comes as earlier this week, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warned that the oil and gas sector could create fewer jobs than the government projects.
Data, according to IPPR director Graham Hopwood, does not support the government’s optimism about job creation.
The sector is projected to create over 12 000 jobs over the next 30 years, with 5 000 expected during the construction phase.
