Opposers of Kavango oil drilling take fight to parliament

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources on Tuesday held a hearing with a group of organisations opposing the drilling of oil in the Kavango by ReconAfrica.

ReconAfrica, a Canadian oil and gas company engaged in the opening of the newly discovered deep Kavango Sedimentary Basin, announced that it found oil and gas indicators in Namibia which is evidence of a working petroleum system in the Kavango Basin. However, several organisations locally and internationally have objected to the project and have called on the government to halt their work citing environmental damage.

According to a press statement issued by the National Assembly on Tuesday, the committee sat with representatives of the Saving Okavango’s Unique Life (SOUL) organisation, the Kavango East and West Regional Conservancy Forest Association, and the Women’s Leadership Centre, a women’s human rights organisation that works with marginalised groups including San indigenous women in

Kavango East.

Speaking on behalf of SOUL, Matt Totten, a geologist by profession and oil exploration expert, stressed the need to put into consideration and assess how climate change is impacting Namibia’s groundwater resources and assess how the damage caused by potential extractions could devastate the Kavango Delta, an area that is sacred.

The statement said SOUL further raised a concern that the project will require clearing of huge swaths of land for infrastructure such as wells, pipelines, access roads as well as facilities for processing, waste storage and waste disposal, a land currently largely being used by the community to crop farm as well as graze their animals.

Equally, the chairperson of the Kavango East and West Regional Conservancy Forest Association, Max Muyemburuko said the company has shown complete disregard for the local community in the area during the consultation phase and left them out during that period.

Similarly, the Women’s Leadership Centre also expressed concern with the lack of genuine consultation by the company with indigenous San communities, including women, who will be affected by toxic damage to their land, water, plants and animals through drilling for oil and gas in the Kavango East region.

The committee is mandated with the duties to monitor, enquire into the situation and report back to National Assembly with recommendations.