I note with interest the press release issued in your newspaper by the Jewellers Association of Namibia (JASSONA) and I felt I should point out some unfortunate inaccuracies in the piece.
Firstly, I should confirm with you that we do not comment on any of our business relationships with our clients – you will appreciate that both applicants for diamonds from NDTC and NDTC itself are subject to obligations of confidentiality to each other.
NDTC is committed to beneficiation and to maximising the wide-ranging economic opportunities from Namibian diamonds, including job creation and skills transfer.
NDTC is delighted to announce that we have appointed 11 new Sightholders to receive supply of rough diamonds for local cutting and polishing in support of Government’s Vision 2030.
NDTC is an independently run joint venture between the Government of Namibia and the De Beers Group of Companies and it makes its own supply decisions.
Clients who have qualified, will receive aggregated (i.e. Namibian sourced diamonds plus diamonds from other countries) and/or unaggregated rough diamonds (Namibian only diamonds). Depending on their applications and our availability.
The selection of Sightholders (clients) is based on very strict, transparent and objective selection criteria and supply considerations, which are designed to identify those companies that can demonstrate excellence in key areas.
The process pays particular attention to the applicant’s technical ability in each category of goods and world-class business excellence, including business management and ethical accountability.
For completeness, these are the criteria NDTC used to decide who we could supply in Namibia:
Mandatory Criteria
Satisfaction of the following mandatory criteria (assessed on a pass/fail basis):
– Financial Standing and Reliability
– General Business Reputation
– Compliance with BPP and its associated Assurance Programme
– A minimum turnover of US$5m
Satisfaction of these minimum requirements is a mandatory condition of eligibility for supply from NDTC.
Relative Performance Criteria
On the basis of the information applicants provided to NDTC, the applicant’s competitive advantage is objectively assessed against the following relative assessment criteria, using a set of pre-defined performance benchmarks:
– Technical Ability
– Distribution and Marketing Ability
– Core Strengths Market Focus
– Direct and associated job creation
– Rough utilisation
– Equity
– Namibian branding
As you can see from the criteria listed here, having an operational manufacturing facility in Namibia is only one of the many criteria for receiving supply from NDTC as a Sightholder.
All applicants were assessed against the same objective criteria, but because of the finite nature of diamonds and our anticipated availability over the contract period we are unfortunately only able to offer supply at an economically efficient level to those applicants that performed the strongest against the NDTC Criteria.
There were 11 successful applicants who were appointed, six of which are already established Namibian companies.
Only operations that were up and running by the 18th July 2007 application deadline will receive supply in the first interim contract period up until the end of March 2008.
This means the established Namibian companies that were successful will be receiving supply from the end of this month.
Successful applicants that had factories that have opened since 18th July 2007 and/or are to open in the next few months will be supplied from April 2008.
This is on the strict understanding that a factory assessment will take place prior to the end of March 2008 to confirm that they are operational and eligible for supply from April. Indeed, all 11 successful applicants’ factories will be visited for the purposes of fairness and consistency.
NDTC Sightholders are free to source their diamonds from anywhere in the world, provided that these diamonds are accompanied by Kimberley process certificates.
They do not have to rely solely on supply from NDTC.
The release was also misinformed in the assumption that less Namibian diamonds will be available locally, this is absolutely not the case.
By 2009, we aim to be selling US$300m to Namibian Sightholders, a proportion of which will be Namibian diamonds, beneficiated in Namibia for Namibian branded jewellery.
I believe it is important for the citizens of Namibia to understand that everything we do here at NDTC is to support the Government’s Vision 2030 aims.
A successful diamond industry here in Namibia that can compete globally in the international diamond market will directly benefit the livelihoods of the citizens and the infrastructure of this country.
This is why we are actively encouraging foreign investment in cutting and polishing operations here in Namibia and why we are pleased to announce that a number of global players have committed to supporting the growth of our industry.
S. Ndjaba (Mr)
Chairman NDTC