Amid anti-oil and gas exploration protests against Shell, that started on 5 December in Cape Town on the planned seismic survey for oil and gas along South Africa’s sensitive Wild Coast, Shell won the case to continue its operations.

Similarly, I must say this has re-ignited and refreshed our minds to our very own domestic debate that has been going on for some time now, regarding the ongoing oil exploration in the Okavango Delta.

This is just an addition to an opinion piece that was published in the New Era of 27 April 2021, which was titled ‘Let oil and gas bring contentment, not misery’, in which the author cautioned on the proper handling of the whole process. 

The article was just a snippet, which mainly centred on the possible injustice that might be inflicted on some of our people, once this project reaches its fruition. 

Now, part two of the article focuses much on the environmental impact that such a project of that magnitude could bring, by using some practical examples that we have seen and continue to see around the world. 

First of all one of the best examples, we can draw lessons from, is the case in the 90s that saw the plight of the Ogoni people, in the Eastern part of the Niger Delta of Nigeria, being crashed, because of dirty clandestine bureaucracy that was involved. 

The sad story is set in Ogoniland (Rivers State), where a local writer named Ken Saro-Wiwa envisioned a long-term environmental degradation nightmare & a heavy cloud that was about to fall on his people. Saro-Wiwa was able to see beyond the present economic conditions and gains at the time. 

Therefore, he began to lobby against the oil exploration giants in that state and was able to awaken his people who eventually joined the fight for the survival of their homeland. Unfortunately, this eventually led to his untimely demise, when he was executed on 10 November 1995.

It is worth mentioning that, before his death on 4 January 1993, he led a community-based organisation called the Movement for Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in a match to hand on their petition against oil exploration, that later became known by many as the biggest match against oil exploration in the world at the time. 

During the match, the community argued that drilling operations had serious adverse effects on the people who were predominantly farmers and their farmlands were completely covered by oil spillage/blow-out and rendered unsuitable for farming (Plartform Blog, 2021).

Plartform Blog (2021) also quoted one of the leaders saying “We have woken up to find our lands devastated by agents of death called oil companies. Our atmosphere has been polluted, our lands degraded, our waters contaminated, our trees poisoned, so much so that our flora and fauna have virtually disappeared.”

Though Saro-Wiwa did not live to see the end of his fight, 16 years after his death, his words were proven, when an assessment was finally done in his birthplace of Ogoniland, by the UN Environmental Program(UNEP) in 2011. A 262-page long report was compiled, and among its other findings, the points that became more appealing to my research are:

• Control and maintenance of oilfield infrastructure in Ogoniland has been and remains inadequate.

• The impact of oil on mangrove vegetation has been disastrous. Oil pollution in many intertidal creeks has left mangroves nurseries for fish and natural pollution filters denuded of leaves and stems with roots coated in a layer of bitumen-type substance.

• When an oil spill occurs on land, fires often break out, killing vegetation and creating a crust over the land, making remediation or revegetation difficult. 

• The surface water throughout the creeks in and surrounding Ogoniland contain hydrocarbons.

The sad thing is that, despite all the above evils experienced by the Ogoni people, and the massive profits made by companies, none of the oil proceeds was spent or invested in uplifting the lives of the natives!

In the same vain the lobbying groups in South Africa, have already pointed out the massive damages that an operation of that nature, will have on the biodiversity, as many sea creatures could be affected in the coming months whales, dolphins, seals, penguins, sharks and even crabs and tiny shellfish will be blasted (Times Live, 2021).

Comparison to Namibia 

The latter examples are true and unfortunate, but how do they relate to the Namibian context? When we talk about oil exploration in Namibia, we should be mindful of the fact that this occurs in the Okavango Delta, which forms one of the world’s largest Wetlands of International Importance, as designated under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of 1996. 

According to Greenpeace Africa (2021), “The oil and gas ‘play’ of ReconAfrica in Okavango risks destroying global attempts of meeting a two-thirds chance of limiting global heating to 1.5°C as part of the Paris Climate Change Agreement”. 

The Okavango Delta is also home to the world’s most endangered species of large mammals, such as the cheetah, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, African wild dog and lion. It is also home to huge populations of elephants and hippos (Greenpeace Africa, 2021). 

It goes deeper than what most of us think of, when we talk about oil exploration, as we tend to only focus much on the economic side of it, and tend to be oblivion to the aftermath this may cause! 

Looking at the above examples, I think the disadvantages are more cumbersome than the benefits that we as a nation will have. Let us not let what happened, to the Niger Delta happen to the Okavango Delta, where the ordinary people had to pay a heavy price before, their cries were finally heard. 

The report on Ogoniland also suggested that cleaning of the oil spills will take at least 30 years, and cost billions of dollars, and termed it the world’s wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise ever. 

Now, is that the future we envision for our children? The irony of it all is, pledges have been made by world leaders, on fossil fuels, at the recently ended COP26 summit!

Even though the future economic benefits on our country’s economic outlook could improve, as a result of this operation and though the grass looks greener on the other side now, we should also remain vigilant and sceptical of all the possible evils that might hide within it. 

Let us say ‘no’ to oil and gas exploration in the Okavango Delta.