Walvis Bay
The Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises, Engel Nawatiseb, is concerned about the ongoing feud pitting Namsov Fishing Enterprise against the government, and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources in particular.
Namsov – part of the Bidvest group of companies – and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, are embroiled in a legal battle with Namsov suing the ministry for a larger horse mackerel quota than it got last year.
The lawsuit came shortly after Namsov’s horse mackerel quota was cut, apparently putting the fishing company in a financial quandary, as it could not generate the forecasted revenue. Until recently the bulk of Bidvest’s profits have largely come from the fishing sector, as it owns various fishing venture companies.
Bidvest also owns stevedoring and fish-and marine-support businesses, in addition to other commercial enterprises that now sustain its profit stream.
Earlier this month, Bidvest posted a warning that its financial results for the year to June 30 would reflect a decline of between 10 percent and 11 percent in headline earnings – “primarily from the significantly lower horse mackerel quota allocation [to] Namsov and its joint venture partners with the second quota allocation for the 2014 calendar year.”
Bidvest’s financial results for 2015 are expected to be released today.
Nawatiseb says the misunderstanding between Namsov and the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources requires rational dialogue and that the ongoing squabbling be avoided at all costs to reach a win-win situation.
“This nation belongs to all of us and the victims in these circumstances are usually the beneficiaries of our natural resources and the Namibian nation at large,” the deputy minister said on Monday while receiving a donation for pensioners from Namsov during a media event at Walvis Bay on Monday.
Nawatiseb advised the contending parties to initiate dialogue and to reconcile. “Restore a relationship of trust and work towards improving the rate of implementation, and in turn catapult the economy into a new period of faster growth, improved job creation and improved service delivery,” he argued.
He said President Hage Geingob has proven – to the delight of the wider society – during his intervention with the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement, that dialogue leads to peace and co-existence.
“The president says there is no need to go to war and fight each other if we can create platforms to talk. Therefore, dialogue, transparency and a clear way forward will be the way. Government’s vision is clear. It plans to expand and spread the opportunities for growth and prosperity to be enjoyed by all Namibians in all part of the parts of the country, with a special focus on the most disadvantaged sections of our population,” Nawatiseb said.