{"id":10528,"date":"2022-01-26T16:32:01","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T16:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery"},"modified":"2022-01-26T17:45:46","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T17:45:46","slug":"vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery","title":{"rendered":"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Steven Klukowski<\/b><\/p>\n

Residents of the southern village of Vaalgras in the \/\/Kharas region are split on the question of whether a possible oil discovery in the area would benefit the community.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Mines and Energy recently sent a team to investigate the \u201cunfamiliar content\u201d discovered in the area. It is still testing the content alleged to be oil found while a company was drilling boreholes in the area. The ministry said it is rather premature to determine if it is indeed oil that was found.<\/p>\n

However, the \u201cunfamiliar content\u201d has tongues wagging in the south with some dreaming of becoming super rich while others are worried about their way of life being disrupted if such a discovery is indeed made.<\/p>\n

Sepholine Topnaar, who was born and raised in Vaalgras, said she was concerned about the community\u2019s cultural values being compromised if oil would be discovered there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy that these experts from government might come here and drill for oil for the benefit of our community in terms of employment creation and socio economic development but I wish they do not enter our ancestors gravesites and other cultural sites in the process,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Topnaar furthermore said the relevant ministry should rather first conduct an environmental and social impact assessment prior to extracting oil in Vaalgras.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grew up here but how will we answer to our children tomorrow if we have no historical background?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

She also questioned the survival of small stock farmers operating in the area, being relocated if the oil deposits are running through their farms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are already experiencing a water problem here and if these poor guys must move to other areas, what will happen to them in the future?\u201d<\/p>\n

The resident added that new developments in terms of drilling oil are always welcome for them as long as a win-win situation can be reached around the table. \u201cIt is indeed a blessing from the skies for us if these tests to be carried out bear positive results,\u201d Topnaar concluded.<\/p>\n

Teacher George Daniseb, however, pronounced his happiness over this new development in their area. \u201cI do believe our unemployed youth are now having prospects of getting employed as they are subjected to substance abuse and crime out of boredom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Daniseb continued that this possible oil discovery might improve basic services like health and education as government cannot address all issues at the same time due to budgetary constraints.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sincere wish is that whoever comes to invest here will give our kids opportunities through tertiary and vocational training in order to equip them to become constructive residents, contributing towards the economic upliftment of our village,\u201d he emphasised.<\/p>\n

The teacher said another prospect will be that of a trust fund being established for those who lost their loved ones since 2019 due to the coronavirus and also for possible side environmental and other related effects once the said drilling has been completed for the benefit of future generations.<\/p>\n

Vaalgras is located 60 kilometres northeast of Keetmanshoop.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Steven Klukowski Residents of the southern village of Vaalgras in the \/\/Kharas region are split on the question of whether a possible oil discovery in the area would benefit the community. The Ministry of Mines and Energy recently sent a team to investigate the \u201cunfamiliar content\u201d discovered in the area. It is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-10528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nVaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steven Klukowski Residents of the southern village of Vaalgras in the \/\/Kharas region are split on the question ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Steven Klukowski Residents of the southern village of Vaalgras in the \/\/Kharas region are split on the question ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-26T16:32:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-26T17:45:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-26T16:32:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-26T17:45:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery\"},\"wordCount\":525,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery\",\"name\":\"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-26T16:32:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-26T17:45:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Steven Klukowski Residents of the southern village of Vaalgras in the \/\/Kharas region are split on the question ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":479,\"caption\":\"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery - Namibia","description":"Steven Klukowski Residents of the southern village of Vaalgras in the \/\/Kharas region are split on the question ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery","og_description":"Steven Klukowski Residents of the southern village of Vaalgras in the \/\/Kharas region are split on the question ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-01-26T16:32:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-26T17:45:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":479,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery","datePublished":"2022-01-26T16:32:01+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-26T17:45:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery"},"wordCount":525,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","economy","homepage-english","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery","name":"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg","datePublished":"2022-01-26T16:32:01+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-26T17:45:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Steven Klukowski Residents of the southern village of Vaalgras in the \/\/Kharas region are split on the question ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/01\/img-61f188b3d56cc.jpg","width":720,"height":479,"caption":"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/vaalgras-residents-split-over-possible-oil-discovery#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Vaalgras residents split over possible oil discovery"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}