Windhoek
Namibian national team football legend, Johannes ‘Congo’ Hindjou has likened the local fisheries sector to a ‘mafia world’, in which he says the “old dogs” call the shots.
Newcomers in the fishing industry have over the years faced an uphill battle when it comes to negotiating mutually beneficial partnerships with established companies that possess financial muscle, with newcomers often selling their quotas out of frustration.
He said the situation is made worse by financial institutions that refuse to accept fishing quotas as collateral.
“The fishing industry is a mafia world, where the old dogs of the industry decide upon the type of partnerships to pursue. They even decide what they want to pay when buying quotas from newcomers or those [quota holders] with no vessels and factories,” Hindjou, told New Era yesterday.
The former Brave Warriors midfielder is a director in Atlantic Crab Namibia, which, together with two Namibian crab right-holding companies,
Aquamarine Fishing Company and Tukondja Trading Enterprises, entered into a joint venture with South Korea’s Insung Corporation to establish a N$90 million storage facility at Walvis Bay.
Insung Korea is involved in processing, refrigeration, trading, distribution and other fisheries, as well as the poultry industry in South Korea. Established in 1968 it is one of the five largest fishing companies in South Korea, with 18 vessels at its disposal. It is also the first Korean company to venture into the Namibian fishing industry.
Hindjou said newcomers in the fishing industries are often bullied to a point, where they are forced to dance to the tune of those that have been in the industry for long.
He said it is not the wish of local fishing rights holders to sell or lease their quotas cheaply, but they are often forced to, due to a lack of access to finance.
“You get a quota, but when you go with it to the banks you are turned away, that is why people enter into partnership with foreigners and some sell their fishing rights,” he said.
Hindjou said the high cost of procuring fishing vessels and constructing factories prevents many Namibian fishing rights holders from actively participating in the sector. His remarks correspond with the views expressed by Information and Communication Minister Tjekero Tweya, who recently urged the country’s financial institutions to assist Namibians with capital to operate in the fisheries sector, when parliament debated the Marine Fisheries Amendment Bill.
Tweya also noted that most Namibian rights holders end up selling their rights because financial institutions are not forthcoming: “When they [right holders] want to engage, the financial institutions turn their backs on them.
“The attitude of financial institutions in this country must change. If not, then the time has come for us to take serious action against them,” Tweya said.
High-level government officials have repeatedly expressed their displeasure with the fact that local fishing rights holders are selling their rights to foreign companies, but access to finance to start operations remains one of the major obstacles for Namibians in the lucrative fishing industry.
“If there is no money people are forced to sell quotas, because there are payments, such as levies, that must be paid to government. If you do not pay, government will confiscate the quota,” Tweya said.
He also acknowledged that locals are often obliged to enter into joint ventures with foreign companies, due to a lack of local capacity and expertise.
Government has pushed for major reforms in the fisheries sector in recent years, but is yet to address the funding component, a problem which recently prompted the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Bernhard Esau to call on financial institutions to come up with funding models through which they can accept fishing quotas as collateral.