The case of the Topnaar-Nama of Namibia

Around the globe new uranium exploration and mining projects are jeopardizing people and landscapes, including vulnerable deserts, savannahs and rainforests. Especially in the Americas, Africa and Australia various indigenous peoples are already or will become victims of that new uranium rush. Governments and corporations are speculating on high uranium prices. The high deadly and cruel risks for local populations, health and environment are played down or hided.

This article is about the struggle of the Topnaar-Nama of Namibia, as well known as Hottentots. They were colonized by Germans, Brits and South Africans. The Topnaar are the original owners of the Namib Desert, its coast, river valleys and mountains. About 800 are living along the Kuiseb valley in the Naukluft National park close to Walvisbay and Swakopmund. In the region there are already two Uranium mines in operation: Roessing close to Swakopmund and Langer Heinrich in the Naukluft Park. And very recently the Namibian Government gave some more uranium exploration licenses in the Naukluft Park to various international companies.

A report from the NGO Earthlife Namibia says, in Namibia, water is generally a scarce natural resource that is used intensively in mining activities. "Rössing Uranium used 3.3 million m3 of fresh water in 2007. Langer Heinrich Uranium water requirements are estimated at 0.87 m3 water per tone of ore processed, that amounts to approximately 1.3 million m3 per year. Trekkopje, the next uranium mine to start operation in 2009, expects to have an annual demand of 20 million m3." The water demand is far too much for the dry Namib. So a desalination plant is presently under construction at Wlozkasbaken as a joint venture between UraMin and NamWater. Earthlife: "Although the residents look forward to the prospect of having access to water, it is to be expected that water tariffs for coastal residents will rise once the plant delivers desalinated water." Anyway: With or without desalinated water: the huge amount of water used during the mining process on an arid environment will certainly change the eco-system, change the flow of the riverbeds, wash away the topsoil, and attract foreign animal species. The Earthlife report says: "The run-off will not be clean water, it will be contaminated with toxic chemicals used in the leaching process and with uranium. It can also contaminate the groundwater."

The indigenous people who are most affected by the existing and proposed mining projects are the Topnaar-Nama - in the past by the colonizers called Hottentot. We met the Topnaar-Nama representatives end of October 2008.

"We do not accept the uranium mines!"

Captain (or King) Samuel Khaxab said: "We do not accept the uranium mines. One day I want to show my children, my small children that tree, that flower and that bock, which is called springbock and that one is an Oryx. But if that mine is coming, the animals cannot be there anymore. The thing (mine) is so strong, dangerous, the people who are working in the mine become sick. The Roessing mine is far from us, but now it comes near at us. And it is dangerous for us. We cannot give the permission for that thing."

"The Government has forgotten the customary law, the old law of Namibia. Because it says, that if someone comes from the royal house he is in title to get the captain ship, the chieftain ship. The law says, the mountains belong to us, the birds are belong to us, the Oryx, the ostrich, all the animals, everything what is in that area is belong to me and my people. That is what the customary law says. Even the minerals is ours and the ground belong to us." But the Government until now do not respect the traditional law und do not respect Samuel Khaxab as legal leader of the Topnaar.

"We are only 800 and we can dying out."

The councillor of Samuel Khaxab, Ephraim Peterson, who is also from the royal house, said: "We want to stop the mines. That uranium is very dangerous. Our animals are there. When there is mining the animals will not stay there anymore. We can forget about the animals. And our children can never see the springbock or the ostrich. And we are only few people. We are only 800 and we can dying out. But the Government does not care about that. All the skeleton coast belongs to us. And the Naukluft Park is our Park. The whole park is belonging to us. But they want to mine there."

The mines, they get Water from our river Kuiseb, from our villages. In every village there is a pump station. They pump the water to Walvisbay and from Walvisbay to Swakopmund and from Swakop to Roessing. The mines are getting water from us. But we never got money from that. Our people also must pay for the water to NamWater (the water company). Our people in the Kuiseb are very poor. After the independence we got nothing. The traditional law says if you come from the royal house you are in the title to be a captain, a king. If we would have the money, we could pay a lawyer, an advocate, that he can fight for us, for our rights. When the Germans were there, it was our land. When the Engels (English) were there, they gave the right to South Africa, so that they can rule Namibia. Than Namibia became free, but they never gave the land title back to us, to govern ourselves. The people who govern now do what they want. They do not care about us. And that is very painful for us!

In the past the Topnaar are living also from the Seafood, mussels and fish from Walvisbay. Today it is a globally important fishing port for exportation. Vessels especially from the EU are operating here, but the Nama got nothing of it. Fish and mussels are not anymore a diet of the Topnaar in the Kuiseb. Also in the past they hunted the animals of the Namib, which is now forbidden because of nature conservation laws. Today - as we saw it during our travel along the Kuiseb - the Topnaar mainly have some Goats and Donkeys and some small, but rich vegetable gardens. In the upper Part, where there is the ground water level is still a bit higher they also have some Cows. Beside of that the traditionally very important staple and healthy food of the Topnaar-Nama is the Namib Desert melon called !Narra. It naturally grows in the Kuiseb valley. But because of the Nambia Water company, which pumps out the water of the Kuiseb to the cities and mines, the !Narra is becomming less and lesser.

Ephraim said: "In the harvest time we collect the !Narra fruit. We eat it, the goats and donkeys also eat it. But the fruit is in danger because of the Uranium mines. If that mines are coming they can contaminate our plants, the !Narra. We also have the fish but we never benefit from it. Even from the Naukluft Park also. The tourists are coming in. Thousands of Tourists are coming in, but we never got something from it. Our ancestors were hunting here before it became a Park. They were eating springbock, Oryx, the ostrich. But today we cannot hunt anymore. It is not allowed, the Government took it over."

One day after our meeting we left together with Captain Samuel Windhoek. With local, public transport we drove to Swakopmund and from there to Walvisbay. From there we had to take a local taxi along a dust road to the Kuiseb which we reached at night. There the driver missed the right way and we stocked in a sand dune. We had to dig out the car during the night, but at the end we reached safely the home of Captain Samuel. From that on we used the donkey cart to visit the other Topnaar villages. Captain Samuel wanted, that we speak to his people about the health and environmental dangers and risks of Uranium mining. What we saw along the trip were the Pump stations of NamWater, which are pumping constantly the Kuiseb-Water to Walvisbay and Swakop. Where there were pumps we saw many trees in the still beautiful valley (it was in fact like a Savannah) dying! And rarely we saw the !Narra plants.

Nearly all Topnaar are living in houses made of old iron scrap, sheet metal and cutted sheet barrels. Some of the Topnaars had worked in the past for one, two or 3 years at the Roessing mine, to get some money. They told us, that they knew mine workers which became ill and were dying. One Nama said, that his friend, a miner, died a few weeks ago because of the "old men illness", the mine doctor said. We asked, how old he was. He said, 60. We answered, with 60 you are not old normally and you have no "old men illness". And everybody must smile, because in the poor Topnaar villages there are many people who never worked in the mine and who are older than 80 without "old men illness", still working in the house and gardens and with the animals…

"In the older times there was always water"

Our special guide and friend in the Topnaar villages was Fanuel Abraham Haoseb, the Councilor of Nama-King Samuel. Fanuel said: "Water is life. In the older days people knew where to find water, where the water level is near, where it is easy to get water. There was always water. Now the problem is. Our water belongs to NamWater and NamWater is supplying water to other areas. Even ourselves has to pay for the water to NamWater, every community, which is difficult to pay, because we have not enough animals, not enough income. So NamWater put up pumps and the water belongs to NamWater which was first our water. And this water is going not only to Walvisbay, it is going up to Swakop and Arandis (Roessing Mining Town)."

"So most of the trees here around are dying out."

"The !Narra-Fruit cannot anymore grow big as it was in the older times, because NamWater has taken over the water. The root of the !Narra is going up to 15, 16 meters down, but the pump of NamWater goes very down, deep, deep, deep, may be 300, 500 meters down. And it is electric, it is pumping 24 hours. So the plant is pumping the water on a natural way and the NamWater pump is pumping with electricity power. The pump is stronger than the plants. So most of the trees here around are dying out."

"In the past the Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinos they used to come down the river during the rainy season. They were grazing down up to rarely 5 kilometers from Walvisbay town. But today these animals are not coming down anymore. Our water is supplying now to many things like factories or the mines in our area. So mines can use a lot of water and new mines can use more water and this will have an effect on us because NamWater will have to pump more water out of the river so that they can give more water to other people, to other things. This will also have an effect on our community itself. The river, the trees and the whole lifestyle of us will be afflicted by this system."

Last year Earthlife Namibia appealed to the government to stop mining operations at Langer Heinrich because mining uranium would not only pose health hazards but also environmental concerns such as loss of biodiversity and possible ground and surface water contamination – one of the serious issues that had not been addressed properly in the draft environmental impact assessment (EIA). The Öko-Institute in Germany reviewed the EIA on Earthlife’s request and stated that the radiation doses are underestimated by a factor of four and that the proposed tailings management concept contains serious flaws. They concluded that, given these circumstances, a license should not have been granted.

Conclusion:

The aim of the Topnaar-Nama is to inform all communities about the impact of uranium prospecting and mining. A hampering reality is lack of transport, finance and information material. They don’t want uranium mining to happen in their area and in the Naukluft Park per se. They believe that they only can stand up against government decisions if well informed. The Topnaar of the Kuiseb need urgently international solidarity and support. They need support to finance an advocate a lawyer to go to court against the Namibian Government because King (Chief) Samuel is not yet recognized by the Government as traditional leader. As officially recognized leader it is easier to struggle against the uranium mine projects. And they need basic financial support for communication. They have to have at least a POBox, which also costs money which they donnot have.

Norbert Suchanek
n.suchanek@online.de
Rio de Janeiro / RJ