Mining industry and government officials are expected to meet tomorrow to discuss possible financial interventions for the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (Nimt).
Early this month, Nimt sent out a memo to staff about possible retrenchments and offered some of its 275 workers voluntary retrenchment because of financial problem.
Nimt also owes the Arandis town council for the water, a service station, as and ErongoRED for electricity.
The meeting comes after NUA wrote to the finance minister, Calle Schlettwein, about Nimt’s situation.
NUA also copied in mines minister Tom Alweendo and higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi.
Those expected to attend are members of the Namibian Uranium Association (NUA), higher education ministry and possibly the finance ministry officials. In the letter, NUA chairman Percy McCallum said Nimt plays a major role in supplying quality graduates to the mining industry, not just in Namibia, but abroad too.
“We consider it, therefore, as imperative that this excellent facility continues to add value to the Namibian education sector and empower young Namibians with sound professional skills,” wrote McCallum.
McCallum provided figures to show that Nimt’s financial crisis was caused by a cut in its subsidy from the Namibia Training Authority (NTA) from about N$25 000 per student a year to N$22 825.
Grants for students at government vocational training centres are about N$75 000 per student a year.
In fact, Nimt’s real training cost is N$49 000, of which N$16 000 is covered by the Namibian Students Financial Assistance Fund loan, and N$3 000 is contributed by the students.
With the reduced NTA subsidy, this leaves Nimt with a loss of N$7 175 per student, about N$26 million a year for its 3 680 students.
McCallum said the troubles were exacerbated over the years as NTA subsidies were also paid late, while expenses occur on a regular basis.
“This made the establishment of an overdraft facility necessary, and Nimt is wasting valuable funds servicing the overdraft interest,” he argued.
He continued that the uranium industry was contributing regularly to the government’s National Training Fund (NTF) in the form of vocational education and training levies, and the industry was aware that the reserves which have accumulated in the fund amount to “hundreds of millions of Namibia dollars”.
“We may, therefore, respectfully request that your good office consider looking into the possibility of utilising the national training fund levies to improve the situation at Nimt and other vocational training centres to avoid retrenchments and the downgrading of the skills base of the country.
“This suggestion is made, taking into consideration that we understand that the NTF is earmarked to assist with vocational training especially,” McCallum added.
Schlettwein and Kandjii-Murangi were fruitless but Alweendo, who confirmed receiving the letter, said Schlettwein and Kandjii-Murangi should consider the request.
“Nimt is worth the while to keep, so assistance should be considered, but the decision is with higher education,” Alweendo said yesterday.
(By Adam Hartman)
