The founding chairperson of the Namibian state-owned diamond trading company Namib Desert Diamonds (Namdia) Shakespeare Masiza has died at the age of 50.Masiza’s family said he died last Monday at a private hospital in Walvis Bay after a short battle with COVID-19.
He is survived by his wife Lorraine and three children.
Masiza, who was also a legal practitioner, chaired Namdia until the end of 2019 when he was replaced by Bryan Eiseb.
Namdia, which is wholly owned by the Namibian government, came about in 2016 following an agreement between Windhoek and De Beers.
As part of the agreement, the Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC) would be channeling 15% of stones produced by Namdeb Holdings to Namdia until 2026.
The company’s purchase entitlement declined by about 13% to 262,633 carats in 2019.
This decline in purchase entitlement saw its sales revenue going down by 16% to $140.2 million in 2019.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
