Staff Reporter
VIGOR Biotechnologies, a company owned by Chinese national Charlie Xie, has approached the High Court for the repayment of over N$500,000 after it made upfront payments to a local company that allegedly failed to deliver seal quotas to Vigor Biotechnologies.
Vigor Biotechnologies, located in Henties Bay, in partnership with local and international stakeholders, specialises in extracting omega-3 oils from seals and nuts for use in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and health supplements.
With global demand for omega-3 products projected to grow exponentially, the project aims to capitalise on Namibia’s abundant seal population.
Vigor has, however, now launched a lawsuit against Great Karas Seals (Pty) Ltd, owned by Silas Hafeni Hamukuaja, after the company allegedly took money but failed to deliver seal quotas as per an agreement.
In the particulars of claim, on or about 17 February 2025, at or near Walvis Bay, the plaintiff (duly represented by Min Xie) and the defendant (duly represented by Silas Hafeni Hamukuaja) entered into a written Quota Usage Agreement under which it would supply seal products to Vigor.
Vigor maintains that on 20 February 2025, it made the first payment of N$60,000, which was the deposit, and thereafter a further N$300,000 as the usage fee on 7 October 2025, and a further N$236,250 on 25 October 2025 as another usage fee.
Vigor claims that Hamukuaja, via his business Great Karas Seals (Pty) Ltd, breached the terms of the agreement and remains in breach, as it failed and/or refused to provide Vigor with the agreed seal quota, despite being allocated the seal quota by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, which was necessary to enable Vigor to utilise the quota.
In a different matter, seal genital cargo of 20 kilograms was flagged in Hong Kong, China, in December 2024 after being exported from Namibia without the relevant export documents for listed species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora by Vigor Biotechnologies.
The quotas had been sourced from another company, Uukumwe Youth Empowerment Consortium (Pty) Ltd, a local company, which was allocated a total of 15,166 MT of seals for the 2024 harvesting season by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
Picture for illustrative purposes only. Photo: Vigor Biotechnology
