Oranjemund claims Namdeb’s debt

Namdeb’s Town Transformation Team said this week that a workshop on transforming Namibia’s diamond mining town, Oranjemund, into a sustainable model town by 2030 is praised as a solution towards beautification.
Oranjemund is being transferred from mining company ownership to local authority control. The three-day sustainability workshop, the first of its kind in the town, was hosted by such success that it is now set to be repeated regularly.
The workshop participants included influential community leaders such as representatives from the business community, the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN), local schools and Oranjemund Town Council. Namdeb Brand Manager Pauline Thomas said: “The workshop was to assist in making every resident understand the challenges and opportunities ahead and their role in this regard.” The event hosted at the Oranjemund Golf Club in mid-August, was jointly facilitated by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Progress Namibia, Freethinkers (transformation specialists), and Namdeb’s Sustainability team. Presentations were given on the plan and how the community and business leaders could align themselves to it. Oranjemund, on the south-west edge of Namibia on the northern bank of the Orange River at the border with South Africa, was established in 1936 after alluvial diamond deposits were discovered there. The town was proclaimed in 2012, but transformation into a model town run by local government is part of a process, in which Namdeb is a key stakeholder. Speaking on the workshop, a business and community leader, Israel Kalenga, said, “The workshop was a life-changing platform for me, mostly because of the quality of knowledge I gained day after day.”
School principal, Mara Beukes said that she learnt a lot about town transformation and what the whole process entails. “My main objective was to find out where I fit into the whole picture. My role as an educator in the town and as a community developer is now clearer to me. I know where to fit in, what is expected of me and I will share this knowledge with the children, teachers and parents of the school, so that they can also understand where they fit.”