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Black empowerment policy approved

The office of the Prime Minister was authorised by Cabinet to draft a national Black Empowerment Policy (BEE). Information Minister Nangolo Mbumba told a media briefing on Wednesday that the Office was to undertake wide-ranging consultations with diverse stakeholders to design a policy. Cabinet further approved the establishment of a technical task team with representatives of various ministries to set up BEE principles BEE objectives. South Africa recently introduced a BEE policy, which prescribed inter alia that mining companies had to sell 26% of their shares to black companies. Minister Mbumba further announced that the draft Prevention of Organised Crime Bill would be tabled in parliament soon.

Chinese land construction job

The extension work at the Ostrich Production Namibian (OPN) slaughtering plant near Keetmanshoop, which will cost about N$17.5 million, has started.
OPN managing director Frikkie Mouton on Monday said a Chinese company was awarded the second phase of the contract, according to the website news of the Namibian ministry of information and broadcasting.

The extension project would make it possible for small livestock such as goats and sheep to be slaughtered at the facility that formerly only catered for the slaughtering of ostriches. The third phase that would see the end of the project will entail the installation of panelling, electricity, and freezer compartments. Communal farmers in the south had repeatedly complained about the lack of slaughtering facilities for small livestock in the south.

85 300 informal business

operators

The ministry of labour completed its findings on the informal sector economy in the country. The survey was conducted in 2001 and the detailed report was tabled in the National Assembly this week. It was found that 85 302 informal economy operators gathered an income, the majority – 44 894 – being female. The average age of all informal operators was between 25 and 49 years. Only 17% had no formal education, the rest had completed either primary school (37.4%) or junior secondary school (29.8%). About 59% of the operators started their income generation by using their own savings to kick off their operations.

Namsea makes N$ 9,7 million losses

The government fishing company Namsea announced huge losses for 2003 and will not pay out any dividends to shareholders. The net loss after taxation for the year ended 31 December 2003 attributable to ordinary shareholders amounted to N$9,754,000, equivalent to a loss of 8,4 cents per share. In 2002, a profit of N$10,8 million was made, resulting in 9,3 cents per share. No dividends were paid out in 2002, however. Headline earnings for the year ending December 2003 amounted to a loss of 8,4 cents per share. No final dividend will be paid in respect of the year ended 31 December 2003. This makes a total distribution of nil cents per share for the year 2003.