Legal battle over phosphate to be postponed The legal matter regarding offshore phosphate mining will today be postponed in the High Court to a later date for parties to file their arguments. This was disclosed yesterday by Sisa Namandje, who is representing several fishing associations who filed an urgent application after environmental clearance was issued to Namibian Marine Phosphate (NMP) recently.
The environmental clearance was issued by the environmental commissioner in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Teofilus Nghitila, for the envisaged Sandpiper Project to be located about 120km southwest of Walvis Bay.
The minister of environment and tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, withdrew the environmental clearance after a public outcry and accusations that the proper procedures had not been followed.
Although Shifeta was adamant that the correct procedures had been followed, he said further consultations were needed.
Since then there have been more allegations that Nghitila had not followed the proper procedures, but this he has fought tooth and nail.
The chairman of the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations, Matti Amukwa, confirmed to Namibian Sun that they would continue with the legal challenge as planned even though the environmental clearance had been withdrawn.
The legal action was launched by the Confederation of Namibian Fishing Associations, the Namibian Hake Association, the Midwater Trawling Association of Namibia and Omuala Fishing.
The first respondent in the case is Nghitila, while the other respondents are Shifeta, the minister of fisheries and marine resources, Bernard Esau, and the minister of mines and energy. Other respondents are the attorney-general and NMP.
The fishing associations argue that NMP did not have a valid mining licence at the time of applying for the clearance certificate, and that the environmental commissioner did not have the competency to grant the certificate, according to the Environmental Management Act.
The application seeks that NMP''s mining licence be declared invalid.
ELLANIE SMIT