Month: August 2023

Republican Party President, Henk Mudge, on Thursday urged the ministry of education and school boards to reject the teaching of gender identity in primary schools.

Mudge told the media his party does not support the “evil” academic concept that pushes for the distribution of textbooks and teaching resources with explicit sex drawings to children at pre-primary and primary school levels.

“I want to urge the government and school boards to look into this immediately and ensure that such literature is banned from our schools in Namibia, and that it does not form part of any curriculum for pre-primary and primary schools,” Mudge said.

The opposition leader said he is critical of attempts to allow young children to decide whether they can change genders.

“Nobody, especially a minor, should be given authority to choose or change their gender. The Republican Party will never support that,” he said.

Mudge also expressed his opposition on homosexuality and the legalisation of same sex marriage in Namibia.

“Without judgment or condemnation, the bible is clear when it comes to homosexuality, amongst other issues. It clearly states that it is not only considered a sin against God’s will but an abomination in his eyes,” he said.

Although homosexuality is not new to Namibian society, Mudge noted that in principle it remains unacceptable to the majority of Namibians.

Previously, the LGBTQ community conducted themselves and kept their lifestyles private, he said.

“This all changed with public protests putting their once private lifestyle in the spotlight and centre stage while demanding acceptance of their lifestyle,” said Mudge.

He further noted that he fails to understand “why the community is making all these demands lately.”

“They are equally part of the Namibian society, enjoying rights and privileges stipulated in our constitution, amongst others,” he said.

Despite his opposition to homosexuality, Mudge called on Namibians to “always respect and love our fellow Namibians, irrespective of their choices.”

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The Keetmanshoop Municipality and PowerCom on Thursday signed an agreement giving the company exclusive rights to manage and maintain its Oxpass telecommunication tower.

In a speech read on his behalf, Keetmanshoop Mayor McDonald Hanse said while the Oxpass tower’s potential was untapped in the past, the new agreement between the two entities will not only ensure its enhanced management, but also promises to bring much-needed revenue to the municipality.

“We eagerly anticipate the positive impact this will have on our community. As we move forward, we envision a future marked by innovation, growth and shared prosperity. With PowerCom’s expertise and dedication, we are confident that this partnership will flourish, benefiting both our town and the wider region,” he said.

Among other duties, PowerCom will maintain the telecommunications tower and ensure that it remains fully functional.

The company will also be responsible for all costs associated with the repair of the tower and management of the lease of the tower to third-party telecommunications and broadcasting service providers.

PowerCom will have exclusive rights and authority to manage the tower for a period of three years starting from September this year.

For the services to be rendered by PowerCom, the company is entitled to retain 40 per cent of the net profit while the municipality is entitled to 60 per cent of the net profit on an annual basis.

PowerCom Chief Executive Officer, Beatus Amadhila, said the company is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Telecom Namibia and its mandate is to manage and set up information, technology and information infrastructures in towns and manage such infrastructures.

“This partnership falls well within our mandate and we are thankful for the opportunity to be able to manage this asset. We are also planning on expanding this agreement in the areas of network connectivity for the municipality as well as for the residents at large,” she said.

The tower currently has 14 occupants and is 1 045 metres above sea level.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on economics and public administration on Thursday expressed concern over the abandoned train station at Outjo in the Kunene Region.

Members of the parliamentary standing committee who visited Outjo are Hambyuka Hamunyela as chairperson, Mathias Mbundu, Apius !Auchab, and Ivan Skrywer, who is their secretary.

The members took a fact-finding mission to the station where they asked questions to TransNamib’s acting chief executive officer, Webster Gonzo, and his team on why the station is abandoned, dilapidated and why TransNamib is failing to lease out buildings on the site.

Gonzo on his part said the station has been like that for more than 20 years, since his company stopped transporting livestock, animal feed and charcoal from the town.

Out of the seven buildings, Gonzo said only two are being rented out to private companies, while the other five on the site are empty, vandalised and old.

“Another concern is that some community members with livestock are now illegally occupying a portion of our land,” said the Otjiwarongo/Outjo train station master, Reginald Eksteen.

He further said the fence of the station, which is about a kilometre long, has been stolen, as well as the electricity cables.

About 100 metres of the Outjo-Otjiwarongo railway line has also been stolen.

The committee members called on TransNamib to get tenants for the buildings so it can be maintained.

They then visited Otjiwarongo, where they were informed that the Otjiwarongo train station is important as it is a drive through station from Ondangwa, Tsumeb and Walvis Bay.

“The station at Otjiwarongo largely transacts in fuel tankers, cement consignments, charcoal and transports empty containers to and from the different stations,” said Eksteen.

More than 90 TransNamib employees from 10 departments work at the station, he added.

A total of 32 locomotives countrywide that are older than 60 years are owned by the company, while it also plans to acquire 25 new locomotives by 2026, said Gonzo.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) received 101 009 applications for various field staff positions during the 2023 Population and Housing Census slated for September, while 10 485 applications were received for office-based positions.

According to Statistician General and Chief Executive Officer of the NSA Alex Shimuafeni, they however only require about 13 000 suitably qualified persons to be employed on a temporary basis to carry out the work in the different phases of the census.

“The recruitment of the enumerators who will be trained from 08 to 16 September 2023 will be finalised in due course, after which the NSA will inform successful applicants by publishing their names on the NSA website, social media platforms, as well as at the various constituency offices,” he said.

Shimuafeni made the announcement during a media conference on the progress made so far in the preparations of the 2023 Population and Housing Census, at Swakopmund on Thursday.

Only those applicants who have submitted their applications through the NSA Online Recruitment System as specified in the advertisement will be considered and only those who fully met the requirements will be selected for training, he said.

“To ensure that the NSA complies with the Affirmative Action Act and inclusivity or representativeness of the recruited applicants to the Namibian nation, the NSA will give preference to persons living with disabilities. The selection of persons living with disabilities will be done depending on the nature of the disability and provided that they meet the requirements of the positions applied.”

A quota system, he further said, will be used to enable the recruitment of one per cent each, equating to 131, for the San and Ovahimba communities and two per cent of people living with disabilities.

The census field work will commence from 18 September to 03 November 2023, a time span will include the enumeration as well as the Post Enumeration Survey (PES).

The PES is a quality assurance exercise, a critical aspect of the census as it aims to ensure that NSA disseminates quality statistics, he said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

A South African political leader has been accused of inciting ethnic violence by leading chants of “Kill the Boer, the farmer” at a rally. “Dubul’ ibhunu” is one of several political songs that played an important role in the fight to end apartheid, but it’s considered inflammatory by some due to its lyrics. #JuliusMalema #Whitefarmers #Apartheid

Source: TRTworld.com

President Cyril Ramaphosa has used his address at the Women’s Day event to encourage all sectors of society to advance and improve the lives of the women and girls of South Africa.

“We must mobilise all of society to support the women of our country on their road to empowerment and the improvement of their lives. As government, we are irrevocably committed to continuing the process of advancing and improving the lives of the women and girls of South Africa,” the President said on Wednesday in Pretoria.

He was addressing the commemoration of Women’s Day, which is being celebrated under the theme, ‘Accelerating Socio-Economic Opportunities for Women’s Empowerment’.

This theme highlights the need to ensure that all women have access to participate equally in all areas of human endeavour.

“We call upon other key role players who control resources and can open opportunities for women to do so. Business is well placed to play a key role in this process of helping to improve the lives of the women of South Africa,” Ramaphosa said.

The President outlined a number of areas that government and the private sector can address to advance and improve the lives of women.

He emphasised the importance of increasing the representation of women in all structures of society.

“Women must be well represented in key positions in government, in management, in the judiciary. The representation of women in decision-making structures continues to improve.

“In Cabinet, half of the Ministers are women. In Parliament, in the judiciary, in the public service, in the armed forces, in the police and in many local councils, we are getting closer to gender parity,” Ramaphosa said.

Acknowledging these gains, he said more needs to be done to achieve a society of true gender equality.

“There must be policies and laws that focus and advance the lives of women. Our laws and policies must have a bias towards improving the lives of women.

“Since the advent of democracy in 1994, we have put policies and laws in place to empower women, improve their lives and advance gender equality,” the President said.

While he called for the prioritisation of the advancement in education, he noted some achievements in that area.

This, as more female learners sit for matric than males. Female learners are achieving more Bachelor’s passes.

In addition, young women make up the majority of students enrolled in higher education institutions.

The President expressed concern on girls dropping out of school, often due to domestic responsibilities.

“As a society and as families and as a nation we must ensure that our girls stay at school and finish school. Women’s health outcomes continue to improve as a result of progressive policies around reproductive health, antenatal care, HIV/Aids and other communicable diseases.

“Even though women’s health outcomes have improved by a number of indicators, women still carry the largest share of the burden of HIV and are more vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases.

“Despite our laws, women and girls in many parts of the country still struggle to access reproductive health services,” the President said.

Equal representation in the economy

He called for the participation of women in the country’s economy to be improved.

“Our economy remains dominated by men. More women are unemployed than men. Women are more likely to work part-time, unskilled and semi-skilled jobs and for lower pay. Women are disproportionately responsible for unpaid care work.

“As a result of all these factors, women are more vulnerable to poverty, food insecurity and hunger. Even today, nearly three decades after the dawn of democracy, the face of poverty is a black women.

“The emancipation of women therefore cannot be achieved without economic empowerment. Women must also be breadwinners. They must have equal job opportunities and equal pay. They must be able to start, own and manage businesses,” the President said.

He said women need to have the financial security and independence to have control over their lives.

“We are determined to make the most of available resources to make a difference in the lives of young women, women with disabilities, rural women and LGBTQI+ women. We are making a difference in the lives of women in Small, Medium and Micro enterprises (SMMEs), in cooperatives and in the informal sector,” the President said.

Among other things, government is supporting women’s economic empowerment through public procurement.

Government has made a commitment to allocate at least 40% of public procurement to women-owned businesses.

“While government departments are working in earnest to award more contracts to women-owned businesses, we need to do much more. As things stand, less than a third of the companies listed on the government’s central supplier database are women-owned.

“We have trained more than 6,000 women entrepreneurs to take part in public procurement opportunities. The success of this programme has convinced us of the need to train many more entrepreneurs in their thousands.

“The African Continental Free Trade Area will give women-owned businesses in South Africa and across the continent access to new markets and opportunities. We are working with partners on opportunities for women’s employment and entrepreneurship in agriculture, manufacturing, technology, the oceans economy and others,” the President said.

He also mentioned that the green economy presents immense potential for women’s entrepreneurship and empowerment, especially in renewable energy.

“In a number of cities and towns there are many women who are established as green entrepreneurs working in recycling, in greening, in climate-smart agriculture and a number of other avenues.

We call on the business community to support women’s economic empowerment by partnering with small businesses as part of their green economy plans. There is also immense opportunity for young women in public employment initiatives,” the President said.

Presidential Employment Stimulus

Since it was established in 2020, the Presidential Employment Stimulus has provided work and livelihood opportunities to more than 1.2 million people. Of the participants in the programme, more than 60% are women.

The President has reiterated that the just transition to a low-carbon, climate resilient society protects the interests of women, as it does for all those affected, and that it offers opportunities for women workers and women-owned businesses.

Government is supporting women-owned businesses to expand and diversify. We are specifically increasing our support for women-owned SMMEs through the National Empowerment Fund, the Small Enterprise Finance Agency and others.

“Working with the financial services sector, we are looking to close the gender gap so that women can access banking services and credit for their businesses.

“As a country, we have the right policies and programmes in place. Led by the women of our country, we continue to develop policies that will advance their interests.

What we need now is to intensify the collective efforts of all social partners, including business, to do more to financially empower women,” the President said.

Source: South African Government News Agency