Month: August 2023

A 56-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide at the University of Namibia’s Hifikepunye Pohamba Campus in Ongwediva on Tuesday.

Namibian Police Force (NamPol) spokesperson for the Oshana Region, Inspector Petrus Imbili, confirmed the incident on Tuesday, saying the deceased’s lifeless body was discovered around 07h30.

Imbili stated that deceased, who was identified as Uusiku Shaanika, was a lecturer at the campus.

“She committed suicide by hanging herself with a rope in her lecture room,” he said.

Imbili added that no suicide note was found.

Police investigations into the matter continue.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Speaker of the National Assembly, Peter Katjavivi, has highlighted the importance of reinforcing efforts to combat all forms of discrimination against women in Parliament.

According to Katjavivi, during the opening of the three-day workshop on gender mainstreaming and responsive budgeting in Swakopmund on Tuesday, this issue is an ongoing struggle that should have been dealt with by now.

“This is a struggle that requires national institutions like Parliament at the forefront. Therefore, the workshop will be reflecting on gender mainstreaming and gender-responsive budgeting, aimed at reinforcing efforts to combat all forms of discrimination against women and empowering female parliamentarians,” he said.

He added that although Namibia has had over 30 years to achieve more in this regard, the efforts are ongoing, as the process has had to be continuously revisited in order to ensure the desired goals are achieved in this important area.

“The subject of gender mainstreaming is a key topical issue that transcends all sectors of our society, as it deals with the empowerment of women, the amplification of their voices, the realisation of their rights, as well as creating for them a justifiable space amongst the rest of the society to equally partake in all responsibilities like their male counterparts,” the Speaker said.

He however commended efforts taken so far by the country, which currently stands over 45 per cent in women representation in Parliament, placing it among the top African countries with the highest representation of women.

The workshop is taking place under the auspices of the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) and is being hosted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Namibia in partnership with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

External Relations Officer in Charge of Secretary General of IPU, Anda Filip, commended the Namibian parliament’s commitment to the realisation of the workshop.

“Initiatives such as the workshop are characteristics of agile institutions that wish to deliver equality and through it, sustainable prosperity from all the people they represent. We therefore cherish our relationship with Namibia and are committed to continue to grow for the future,” Filip added.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The Omaheke Regional Council approved the allocation of N.dollars 404 000 to be distributed amongst its seven constituencies for rural development programmes for the current financial year.

This was revealed in a media release issued by the regional council following the adoption of resolutions in its latest council assembly earlier this month.

According to the report, every constituency will be allocated just under N.dollars 58 000 respectively. The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development allocated this amount to the regional council to implement rural development initiatives, through the Micro Finance Scheme, One Region One Initiative, Regional Specific Action Plan/Food Security or Food/Cash-For-Work programmes.

During the council meeting, the regional council approved an operational budget of N.dollars 52 million, of which 90 per cent is expected from the line ministry whilst the rest should be generated from municipal services in the region.

“The regional council granted provincial approval to Value Development Trading (VDC) to conduct an environmental impact assessment for the construction of a fuel station in Epukiro Post 3 on Erf 31,” it also said.

The regional council’s engineers will determine service demand and availability and verify the proposed plot size of 6 600 square metres to be allocated for the development proposal for retail shops, private clinics and a fuel station.

The VDC proposal that was submitted to the Epukiro Constituency Development Committee is expected to create around 270 jobs in the region. The company reportedly plans to invest N.dollars 21 million.

The council also provisionally approved that the Namibia Agricultural Mechanisation and Seed Improvement Project (NAMSIP) machinery that is currently unused at the Regional Directorate of Agricultural Production, Engineering and Extension Services be distributed to all constituencies to assist with mitigating the effects of drought in the region.

“Council further directed that the machinery be distributed equitably, with Gobabis, Kalahari and Okorukambe constituencies each receiving 10 machines, while the rest of the machines should be distributed among Aminuis, Epukiro, Otjinene and Otjombinde constituencies,” it said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Members of the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) at Otjiwarongo on Tuesday called on the Central North Regional Electricity Distributor (Cenored) to assess, through a survey, the impact of its annual electricity hikes on consumers before enforcing any decisions in the future.

The party members who held a meeting with Cenored included the acting local organising committee (LOC) spokesperson Sebetius Guiteb; regional secretary Julian Horases, and additional LOC member, Uzuvirua Tjikurame.

The trio told Cenored to learn to consult with the consumers when increasing electricity prices as clients are always left shocked to see their electricity units decreasing without an explanation given to them on the influencing factors.

“We want your company from now on to conduct research on how these annual increases impact the lives of the consumers,” said Tjikurame.

Guiteb, on his part, called on government to revisit its policies regulating electricity tariffs, saying electricity increases have become an economic burden on residents.

“Even if it will require us to go back to the previous administration, where the local authority councils were the ones distributing electricity at affordable prices, let’s do that,” he said.

Cenored Public Relations Officer, Chali Matengu, who engaged them replied that the electricity industry is a regulated business, whereby once the suppliers increase electricity tariffs, distributors like Cenored are also forced to increase their prices.

Matengu further stated that since Namibia also imports bulk electricity from South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe through NamPower in foreign currencies that fluctuate, this also continues to make electricity even more expensive once it is resold to local consumers in Namibian Dollars.

Consumers also pay levies on each electricity unit they buy to the National Energy Fund (NEF), Electricity Control Board, (ECB) and charges to the local authority councils holding shares in the electricity distribution, he said.

On 03 August this year, Cenored announced its new electricity tariffs with an increase of nearly 8 per cent, effective from 01 July 2023.

Fessor Mbango, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, explained that Cenored, which supplies electricity to the regions of Omaheke, Otjozondjupa, Kunene, and partly Oshikoto, had applied for the 7.6 per cent tariff increase, which the Electricity Control Board (ECB) approved.

Mbango said N.dollars 100 of electricity in the domestic category will now yield 35 units, down from the previous 40 units, while businesses will get 20 units for N.dollars 100, reduced from the previous 22 units. For farm owners N.dollars 100 will provide 17 units, down from the previous 19 units.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Samora Machel Constituency Councillor, Nestor Kalola has accused the City of Windhoek (CoW) of lying about the provision of ablution facilities in informal settlements, which has forced residents to construct their own toilets.

Kalola’s allegations follow CoW’s decision last week to demolish a privately-owned toilet at an informal settlement in the constituency, saying CoW has not provided the informal settlements of the Samora Machel Constituency with any ablution facilities and as a result, residents have resorted to constructing their own.

“People are suffering and now that they are trying to build their own toilets to avoid using plastic bags and riverbeds when nature calls … CoW is destroying their toilets… Where are the toilets they built? They must come show us. How does CoW expect the people to survive or are they giving the residents riverbeds as the primary option for sanitation?” he fumed while speaking to Nampa on Tuesday.

Kalola said the constituency’s informal settlements house 80 000 inhabitants and the CoW provides communal water points only. He said the councillor’s office wrote a letter in 2021 requesting basic services such as ablution facilities, more water points and electricity, but nothing has been provided yet.

Meanwhile, CoW spokesperson Harold Akwenye said amongst six constituencies where the largest informal settlements are located, 157 toilets were provided from 2020 to 2022, of which 16 were allocated to Samora Machel, increasing the allocation to 69 public toilets.

“The demolition was done on the basis that there was no peaceful occupation of the toilet that was illegally built on the municipal land, hence the person was distracted from fully completing and taking peaceful occupation of the toilet structure,” he noted.

“The City is planning, subject to availability of resources, to implement an additional 115 toilets over the period 2023-2025 in Samora Machel, which is half of the total allocation planned for the entire informal settlements, of 231 toilets,” Akwenye added.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency