End the secrecy in fisheries. Publish the register this week.

Statement by the Shadow Minister of International Relations and Trade

Text of Hon. Cloete’s LinkedIn post of 8 September 2026, as posted. Read the post on LinkedIn.

“An indaba in Walvis Bay is not a public register of fishing rights. Until every quota, every right and every beneficial owner is on a website that a journalist and a member of parliament can read, the sector remains open to the same abuse that produced Fishrot,” says Hon. Rodney Cloete, IPC Shadow Minister of International Relations and Trade.

This morning’s papers record a familiar sequence. The President told the National Fisheries Indaba that fish caught in Namibian waters must be landed and processed in Namibia, and that Namibians who resell quotas to foreigners must be stopped. Minister Inge Zaamwani said the meeting must not be another talking platform. IPPR executive director Graham Hopwood called for immediate publication of rights and quota holders, including beneficial ownership, amendments to the Marine Resources Act to reduce ministerial discretion, and accession to the Fisheries Transparency Initiative.

IPC’s position is unchanged from January 2026. The ministry must publish the TAC for every commercial species, the allocation by company, and the natural persons behind those companies. Without that list there is no oversight. No journalist can investigate a name that is not printed. No MP can question a tonne that is not disclosed.

The five-year investor permit and the NIPDB-PwC tax guide are useful administrative steps. They do not replace a fisheries register or a finished first-oil rulebook. Foreign investors now get five years of planning certainty. Namibian crews and processors are still asked to trust a speech.

Namibia is all we have
Namibia is not for sale
We must and can save it!

Back to rodneycloete.com.na · Earlier on this site: An Embassy Is Not a Consolation Prize (31 August 2026)