The United Democratic Front (UDF) President and MP, Apius !Auchab, is dismayed at traditional authorities in the Daures Constituency for failing to turn up for a consultative meeting this week regarding mining activities in the area.

In his disappointment, !Auchab is now suggesting that the government stop giving allowances to non-active traditional leaders.

"I have received an apology from the Daures Traditional Authority and from the royal houses, but the very traditional leaders in the place in Okombahe where we are supposed to hold the meeting have never even apologised. They never turn up, and this is not a good sign for a leader because they are the ones who are answerable to the community, and wherever they are called, they should come and listen and give their input on behalf of the communities that they are leading. But if they stay away, who are they leading? If they cannot be the mouthpiece of the communities, does it mean that the community must stand up and attend meetings for themselves so that they can hear what is good for them?"

!Auchab says the mushrooming of mining activities in the area also affects farmers.

"The mushrooming of the mines is also a little bit of a burden on the farmers that are farming in the same area, so all these things need to be ironed out, and we should come up with amicable plans to accommodate the farming and the mining on the same spot."

He added that resource extraction in the area should benefit the community as well.

"In the meantime, we don't know we are exporting jobs and we are exporting our valuable resources that can be of the development that and the country itself, that can even help minimise the problems and the poverty that the communities are swimming in. That is why the traditional leaders should come together and they should speak with one voice and knock at the door of the government and even tell the government the needs of the people and the needs of the area and what they expect from the government to assist in engaging them with these mining activities."