Month: November 2023

Around 26 000 people are currently on the waiting list for housing in northern Namibia, National Housing Enterprise (NHE) Chief Executive Officer Gisbertus Mukulu has said.

Mukulu during a media engagement at Ongwediva on Sunday said the national waiting list stands at over 100 000 applicants.

He said while the housing backlog is substantial, NHE is doing its best to address the issue.

‘We are really not meeting the demand for housing, but we are doing our best to meet demand as the housing backlog cannot be addressed over a short period,’ he said.

To date, the National Housing Enterprise has constructed 18 000 houses countrywide. Over 3 000 of these houses have been handed over through the Mass Housing programme after the organisation was given the mandate to participate fully in the programme.

Mukulu noted that there are currently no vacant, fully constructed houses available nationwide.

He however stated that 505 houses are under construction in Swakopmund. Of these, 111 houses have been completed,
while the construction of the remaining 394 is ongoing.

‘We are making progress and slowly but surely, Government is gaining confidence in us,’ he added.

NHE is scheduled to hand over 50 houses in Omuthiya on Monday, followed by 24 houses in Ondangwa on Tuesday and 70 houses in Okahao on Thursday.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Unemployed teachers are planning to stage a nation-wide protest over their longstanding demands pertaining to the recruitment of unemployed teachers.

They have also threatened to close down all Directorate of Education offices in the regions until their demands are met, the National African Students’ Association secretary general in the Kavango West Region Gellasius Kandunda told Nampa in an interview on Sunday.

The protest is planned for 28 November countrywide, he said.

‘We want to eradicate the percentage of unemployed graduate teachers in the education sector,’ he said.

Kandunda explained that the decision to protest was taken last year by different former student leaders who are unemployed.

‘We have been engaging different education offices and up to this year we even went up to the extent of engaging with the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture directors in different regions. All these engagements did not give us the satisfactory responses that we are looking for,’ he said.

In the Kavango Eas
t Region, he said, the protest will start from the Rundu Sports Stadium with a march to the Kavango East Education Directorate office, where a petition will be handed over to the education director.

In the Kavango West Region, the protest will take place from the International University of Management in Nkurenkuru where teachers will then march to the regional education office.

‘After handing over our petition, we will ask the director to excuse himself from the office so we can close it,’ the student leader said.

In September this year, the unemployed teachers also held a press conference in Rundu where they claimed that 80 per cent of the understaffed schools in the country were in the two Kavango regions, where teachers have to cater to between 70 and 90 learners in a class. They added that 3 410 teachers are unemployed in the two regions.

This was challenged by the education ministry.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The Kamanjab Village Council is in the process of drilling its own boreholes to guarantee that the community and surrounding areas have enough water supply and to avoid relying on NamWater for water delivery.

The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development funded the project with N.dollars 5 million last month to drill four boreholes. Shamarunga Trading Enterprises CC has been contracted for the project.

Bianca Nguaiko, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kamanjab Village Council, recently told Nampa that the project is likely to be completed around February 2024.

Nguaiko said the project is intended to alleviate the water issues that inhabitants in the separate areas suffer. One of the boreholes has been completed.

The CEO stated that the project aims to address some of the root causes of the management crisis in water resource management and service delivery. He said the council intends to shift away from traditional sub-sector-based approaches to a more holistic and coordinated approach to water manageme
nt that is based on a set of agreed fundamental concepts, which means that the village council will be the sole service provider (water) to its residents.

‘Two more boreholes are still to be drilled during the course of this week,’ she went on to say.

Furthermore, the CEO stated that once the drilling project is completed, the council will construct a new reservoir and treatment facility to provide purified water to households at a reduced rate.

‘New pipes need to be installed from the boreholes of the Worth solar plant to reduce overhead expenses,’ she added.

The Kamanjab Village Council owes NamWater N.dollars 3.6 million as a result of the government’s order of free water services to residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nguaiko further mentioned that the council created a specific tariff that will be linked to prepaid water meters to ensure that all ultra-low-income consumers do not default and do not run out of water.

‘For ultra-low earners, the card will include 5 000 litres of free water. The t
ariff ranges from N.dollars 75 to N.dollars 475,’ she explained.

The inhabitants owe the council N.dollars 13 million, which includes N.dollars 2 million in Build Together loans and N.dollars 3 million in erven loans.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises will host the second public enterprise conference on Wednesday under the theme ‘Driving Sustainable Economic Growth through Namibian Public Enterprises.’

The two-day event will be held at the Gross Barmen resort in the Otjozondjupa Region and will bring together the chairpersons of boards, chief executive officers, managing directors, and executives of public enterprises.

‘The conference will be an excellent platform for the invited delegates from all the public enterprises to determine the best governance and performance models that can be utilised to enhance a good corporate governance framework and high-performance culture, which are vital recipes for the transformation of the public enterprises geared towards the attainment of the national objectives,’ the ministry said on Monday.

The conference that will be officiated by Finance and Public Enterprises Minister, Iipumbu Shiimi, who will deliberate on various issues, including the effectiveness of the publ
ic enterprise boards, as well as positioning public enterprises for the emergence of green hydrogen.

There are 81 public enterprises in Namibia that are categorised into commercial, non-commercial, and extra-budgetary entities. However, the majority of public entities are heavily criticised for poor performance, as some often depend on government bailouts.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

A 44-year-old man allegedly drowned at Long Beach near Walvis Bay on Friday.

The Namibian Police Force in a report on Sunday noted that the man, Peter Schneider, had gone swimming with a companion around 10h15 when the incident occurred.

The body was retrieved by two Navy divers and the police.

Police investigations are underway.

In another incident, it is alleged that six trial-awaiting inmates on Saturday between 22h00 and 22h30 escaped from lawful custody at Rehoboth in the Hardap Region.

The escapees, aged 16, 18, 22, 28, 31 and 34, were to be tried for possession of drugs, theft and stock theft. The circumstances surrounding the escape are under investigation, the police said.

In a separate incident, the police reported that a 63-year-old man allegedly committed suicide in Dorado Park, Windhoek.

Benjamin Petrus’ body was found hanging from the roof at around 08h00 on Sunday at the braai area of his residence.

No suicide note was left behind and an inquest has been launched.

Source: The Namibi
an Press Agency

Items worth N.dollars 83 800 were stolen during a break-in at a house in Windhoek’s Otjomuise residential area on Saturday.

The Namibian Police Force in a crime report on Sunday said four men allegedly broke into the house around 05h00, using a bolt cutter to cut through the fence.

They fled with items including one television set, three laptops, one computer, six watches, two cellphones and clothing.

The clothes and two laptops have been recovered but there have been no arrests in connection with the matter and police investigations continue.

In a similar incident in Otjomuise, a woman was on Saturday held at gunpoint and robbed of items valued at N.dollars 33 600 after a suspect gained entrance to her residence.

The suspect allegedly accessed the house by removing a window in the living room around 04h00 before threatening the suspect with a firearm. He stole items including a TV, hard drive and cellphone.

The 33-year-old suspect has been arrested and investigations are ongoing.

In another break-in,
items worth N.dollars 58 000 were stolen from a house in Academia on Saturday.

The incident occurred between 02h00 and 02h30 and the robbers cut the electric fence to access the house.

A television, wallet and clothes were amongst the stolen items which have not been recovered yet.

No arrests have been made and police investigations continue.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency