Reconnaissance of ReconAfrica’s proposed fracking site in Kavanga raised concerns about ecosystems, water and communal lands, writes John Grobler Entrance to the ReconAfrica site at Kawe. Photos: John Grobler Canadian oil and gas company Reconnaissance-Africa (ReconAfrica) on Friday sought to downplay the risks its exploration programme in Namibia posed to the ecologically sensitive tributary of the Kavango River, saying their mud-based drilling method was no threat to the aquifer and insisting their three drill sites on communal land were all legally occupied. “The [waste] water is so safe you can drink it if it was not so muddy,” said the company’s Cuban deputy general manager, Yuri Perez Martinez, during an interview with him and and his co-director, Raydel Toirac Proenza, about their drilling programme in Kawe. They were reacting to evidence presented to them that the waste pond was not lined with a non-permeable membrane to prevent leakage of chemicals used in the drilling process from leaking into the groundwater. It was a joke, Martinez hastened to add – but it is one that has potentially major local and regional environmental implications. Kawe is located about 40km due south of the Kavango river and on the western bank of the Omatako-Omuramba, an ephemeral river system that once flowed from central Namibia into the Kavango river 70km east of Rundu at Ndonga Linena. As such, it is part of the larger Okavango Delta ecosystem. The unlined waste pond at ReconAfrica’s Kawe drill site Several visits to Kawe drill site last week showed that drilling, which started on January 11 and which Martinez confirmed had reached a depth of 300 metres, had been paused. Plans for three more community water boreholes, to be drilled by a local sub-contractor, were also postponed on the apparent instructions of ReconAfrica’s head office, it was established. Namibia’s Environmental Commissioner Timoteus Mufeti last week confirmed his officials had visited the Kawe drill site and would issue a report and instructions soon. “Yes, they were granted ECC [environmental clearance certificate] for the drilling at Kawe, other [two] sites which are not yet started and not sure at this stage if they will be started,” Mufeti said by WhatsApp. The Canadian junior oil and gas company so far has avoided discussing the potential impact and risk to the aquifer which all local residents and farmers depend on for water, sourced from boreholes or shallow wells in the porous, sandy substructure. Instead, ReconAfrica has confined debate to its current seismic testing programme over 450km during public meetings held in the regional capital, Rundu. Presentations by its environmental consultant, Sandile Mwiya, did not mention the potential risks of boreholes and the local clay-built houses collapsing if such seismic testing was done in close proximity. Mwiya repeatedly said that questions over ReconAfrica’s proposed fracking plan were premature at this stage. They were only looking, not drilling, he stressed in response to questions from the audience. Former MP Alois Gende, appointed as ReconAfrica’s community coordinator, informed the Mbambi community that the meeting with his employers had been postponed The impact on wildlife would be minimal because there were no elephants within the area of the seismic testing, Mwiya said, a fact disputed by the Kapinga Kamwalye Conservancy. This assertion was undermined by the fact that the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism had issued a controversial tender in December 2020 for the capture and removal of 90 elephants from Kavango East – as part of a group of 170 animals to be sold. The seismic testing – conducted by slamming a hydraulic hammer into an aluminium dome to generate shockwaves of 300mHz into the ground – would not bother the elephants, Mwiya said. Elephants’ feet-based, long-range communication was conducted at 24mHz and only occurred at night when ReconAfrica would not be working, he said. Questions about the long-term implications for the region, completing a full assessment of all fauna and flora in 450km of densely wooded Kalahari sand by the end of February, and the implications for the aquifer were batted aside as irrelevant. “They did not answer anything,” said Adolf Moremi, chairperson of the Kavango East Farmers’ Union, afterwards. Even the Okavango Land Board was not approached by ReconAfrica about their plans, confirmed the current chair of the board.