Millions for Namdia directors

Jo-Maré Duddy – About 17% of the total expenditure of state-owned Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) during its first 11 months of business was to pay for seven directors.According to the SOE’s first annual report, tabled by deputy finance minister Natangwe Ithete in Parliament on Tuesday, Namdia’s total directors’ emolument bill for the period under review was more than N$3.99 million. By comparison, the company’s total salary bill for the same period was just over N$3.8 million.The annual report names seven directors: Adv Shakespeare Masiza (chairman), Venondjo Maharero, Chris Nghaamwa, Florentia Amuenje, Lorentha Harases, Bonifatius Konjore, and Tania Hangula. Masiza received N$616 597 in total: a fee of N$595 000 and expense allowances of N$21 597. The other directors each earned N$560 000 each. Maharero also received N$17 279 as expense allowances.According to the annual report, six board meetings took place during the 11 months under review: an inaugural one from 12 to 13 August 2016, followed by a monthly meeting in September, October, November and December 2016, as well as one in February 2017. This translates into a director’s fee of about N$93 333 per sitting, while the chairman’s fee was nearly N$99 167 per meeting.By comparison, the Bank of Namibia’s (BoN) total fees for its non-executive board of directors in 2017 was N$644 000. Only five of the six non-executive directors received a fee, with finance permanent secretary Ericah Shafudah rendering her services for free. The BoN held eight board meetings in 2017, according to its annual report.RevenueNamdia generated revenue of nearly N$860.7 million during the period under review, recording a net profit of about N$62.7 million.The SOE, which was established in 2016 following a new agreement between the government and De Beers, purchased about N$752.1 million worth of rough diamonds during the period under review.“The first year of Namdia’s operations was quite challenging,” Masiza says in the report. As a start-up business, Namdia had to be up and running within 90 days after the diamond sorting, valuing, sales and marketing agreement between the government and De Beers was signed. The agreement allows Namdia to buy 15% of Namdeb Holdings’ run-of-mine production. “This entitlement was deliberately earmarked for sale outside the traditional sales system whereby sight holders buy diamonds from the NDTC [Namibia Diamond Trading Company] based on the De Beers price book,” then interim CEO Kennedy Hamutenya says in the report. Hamutenya has since been appointed in a permanent capacity.Both Hamutenya and Masiza say Namdia has proved that prices higher as the De Beers price book can be achieved. However, both also point out that challenges persist and they remain “cautiously optimistic”.ExpensesNamdia received a clean bill of health from its auditors, Hamilton Chartered Accountants.Expenditure for the period under review totalled about N$23.2 million. Consulting fees of nearly N$11.3 million comprised the bulk of expenses. Other big expense items were nearly N$2.04 million for overseas travelling and about N$1.4 million for rent.On 28 February 2017, Namdia had about N$71.3 million worth of cash and cash equivalents. The company paid about N$29.5 million in tax, but no dividends to government, its sole shareholder.

Millions for Namdia directors

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Republikein 2025-04-22

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Millions for Namdia directors

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