The Chamber of Mines of Namibia has long warned that the country’s ageing railway network was straining under pressure, but recent incidents finally pushed the issue back into the national spotlight.
As hazardous materials such as sulphuric acid have been spilt due to deteriorating rail sections, the Chamber’s CEO, Veston Malango, has grown increasingly concerned. To him and many in the mining industry, Namibia needs a reliable and efficient railway system, especially in Namibia’s most sensitive ecological areas.
Back in 2014, the Chamber had rallied several of its members who depended heavily on rail transport. At the time, mining companies faced rising service failures from TransNamib, forcing them to abandon the rails and shift large volumes of inputs and products onto the country’s already congested roads. During those discussions, members revealed a troubling statistic: nearly 70% of heavy mining goods were travelling by road, with only 30% moving by rail.
The Chamber had in 2024, approached the Ministry of Works and Transport with detailed evidence of the financial and operational fallout of the rail decline. They presented ideas for turning things around, including models that mirrored successful private-sector participation initiatives in East Africa.
Mining operations such as Sinomine Tsumeb Smelter, Tschudi Copper Mine, Ohorongo Cement, B2Gold’s Otjikoto Mine, and Rössing Uranium are the main companies that use the railway system.
The Chamber has argued that TransNamib should prioritise investment in the Walvis Bay–Kranzberg–Tsumeb corridor, which serves high-volume mining operations and offers significant revenue potential for TransNamib.
The Chamber believes that Public-Private Partnerships offer the most viable path forward. Such collaboration could expedite upgrades, reduce reliance on government funds, and restore the rail sector to a level that matched Namibia’s growing mining ambitions.
Back in 2014, Chamber members had moved more than 123,000 tonnes of freight each year. Yet 84,000 tonnes, nearly 70%, had been pushed onto the roads, representing a massive loss in revenue for TransNamib.
Malango says the situation has not improved; if anything, volumes are likely the same or higher today. For him, this made one thing painfully clear: without immediate action to rebuild the railway system, the parastatal would continue losing income, and Namibia’s mining sector would remain exposed to unnecessary risk.
TransNamib has, over the past three years, transported an average of 1.3 to 1.5 million tonnes of freight annually, amounting to only 12% of the total national freight volume, according to statistics from the Ministry of Works and Transport.
Chamber statistics show that the mining industry procured good worth N$23.94 billion in 2024 compared to N$21.02 billion in 2023. The industry paid N$5.6 billion in taxes in 2024 and directly employed 20,843 people.
Written by Chamwe Kaira for Railways Africa
