A proposed salt plant to gather salt from oshanas in the former Ovamboland has drawn criticism. The National Society this week expressed its concern about a "unilateral and exclusive privatisation of a community natural resource".

On December 28, 2004 in a radio interview the Oshana regional governor Clemens Kashuupulwa announced that a large salt exploration and processing plant is to be erected at Uukwangula village, some 10 kilometres west of Oshakati. The salt plant is planned for Uukwangula village to "create employment and generate complementary revenue for the regional council". Revenue is to be collected from exporting the salt to African and European countries, the governor said.

In an interview with the NSHR, Governor Kashuupulwa last Friday confirmed that the Oshana Salt Exploration Company was already registered in terms of the Decentralisation Enabling Act. He also confirmed that the pegging of the saltpans had already been done and that an environmental impact study was either completed or will be completed soon, according to NSHR boss Phil ya Nangoloh.

However, when PLUS tried to trace any details of that company at the registrar of companies, it could neither be found there nor at the ministry of finance, which presently has the best updated and computerised company register (for taxation purposes). Only the name of another company Oshana Salt Mining, registered in 1995, could be traced. Owners and directors are only 2 persons: Clemens Cavid Shifotoka and Silvanus Vatura.

"Unilateral privatisation of the saltpans in communal areas might generate tribal tensions", the executive director of the NSHR, Phil ya Nangoloh said in a statement. "We warn that, unless handled with extreme care, the proposed salt plant could also become a source of unnecessary tribal tension or even open conflict as communities competence for access to natural resources".

Namibia already has 2 salt companies at Swakopmund and Walvis Bay respectively, which also export salt. Economic experts assume that those companies are "too white" regarding employees and that black empowerment is to be pushed by all means from certain quarters, regardless the consequences.

The fishing companies have suffered severely in the past 2 years due to lower fish prices and the soaring exchange rate of the Namibian dollar. Profitability and competitiveness suffered as a result leading to retrenchments, which in turn caused labour unrests. Yet the fishing sector should change its strategies, the Namibia Chamber of Commerce (NCCI) said on Wednesday. "We believe that this current sense of an economic crisis in the fishing industry can lead to new strategies that can help the fishing industry and the entire economy to become more competitive and face future challenges", said Tarah Shaanika, CEO at the NCCI. The Namibian private sector needed to constantly improve its competitiveness to be able to continue to operate in an increasingly competitive world market, he said. International experience has shown that individual firms of a certain size cannot become competitive in the global market on their own in the end. A close interplay between firms, business organisations, suppliers, Government and for instance NamPort, he recommended. This interconnection of firms with a common vision is called "cluster development" and Namibian business should move into that direction, he urged. All stakeholders in the fishing industry should consider cluster development as a new initiative to improve sustainability. Labour unions need to understand the difficulties faced by their companies and measures that are taken to overcome such difficulties. "We call on the fishing industry and labour unions to engage each other in an open and frank manner in order to stabilise labour relations in the sector", the NCCI’s Shaanika said.

Dr Mark Dyboul, Assistant US Global AIDS Coordinator and Medical Director for the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, visited Namibia January for 6 days to meet with Namibian Government officials, NGO representatives, and others participating in the fight against HIV/AIDS. He travelled to Walvis Bay, Windhoek, the Oshana and Oshikoto Regions and Rehoboth. Speaking to reporters, he said he was very impressed with Namibia’s AIDS strategy, which involved Government, NGO’s and churches. The US had committed US$ 60 million (N$ 360 million) for 2004 and 2005 for Namibia from that fund", Dyboul said. By next month, the US Congress would discuss the new budget and what he saw in Namibia would help him underpin arguments in favour of more funding.

The US government has 100 countries benefit form its fund to support AIDS policies, with 15 core countries receiving more funding, including Namibia. The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is a five-year US$15 billion dollar initiative to fight AIDS globally. The Emergency Plan, which is the single largest health initiative in history, is designed to work as an integral partner with host nations on a range of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment services in an urgent manner.