Month: December 2023

ONYAANYA: The Minister of Education, Arts and Culture Anna Ngipondoka said schools should demolish dilapidated buildings at their schools before they cause harm to learners and staff.

Nghipondoka said this in an interview with Nampa on Friday after observing Ihongo Combined School in Onyaanya circuit in the Oshikoto Region, which was established in 1925 by Finnish missionaries, having two building blocks with six classrooms that are dilapidated completely.

‘I urge the regional office’s department of planning to consider this seriously before it causes any harm to our teaching staff and learners,’ Nghipondoka said.

Nghipondoka also raised concern about teachers and learners failing to adapt to the new curriculum.

‘Our teachers must leave the old curriculum of memorising and shift to the new curriculum to improve the results of our Grade 11 learners,’ she said.

She said learners who rely on memorising word by word will not get anything from the new curriculum.

Nghipondoka also motivated learners to assess
their performance and come back stronger and smarter next year.

‘You must ask yourself why did I not pass well, is it because I do not listen very well when the teacher is teaching or I do not hear the teachers when they are teaching,’ said Ngipondoka.

She further added that teachers should also think of the percentages they have accomplished and assess where they need improvement.

‘The end of the year is always a time of reflection, where did I do well and where did I do wrong and how do I improve because life is forever all about improvement, you must go and reflect on where you did not do well,’ she said.

She encouraged teachers to help the younger learners by reflecting on their behalf for them.

‘Our teachers must point fingers at themselves but not at learners because we are carrying accountability of our learners,’ Nghipondoka said.

She mentioned several reflections that are supposed to take place at the school level to improve learners’ performance.

‘Imagine a learner is failing Oshindonga in cl
ass, is it us teachers or learners? It is us unless the learners have learning difficulties, but then I must do referrals to the hospital or social worker for people to go and help the learners,’ said Nghipondoka.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency

TSUMEB: The Namibian SOS Children’s Village and the Finnish Embassy launched the Youth Employability Project (YEP), that will hand over N.dollars 10 000 start-up capital to 20 young people in the country to boost entrepreneurship.

SOS Family Strengthening Programme Coordinator, Thomas Ankoshi said in an interview with Nampa on Monday that through funding from the Embassy of Finland, the project is supporting disadvantaged young people to become self-reliant and contributing members of society.

‘YEP also made provision for post-secondary education tuition payments and stipends to those seeking on-the-job training to prepare them for the labour market, increase their employment prospects to become self-reliant,’ said Ankoshi.

He added that YEP aims to contribute towards a reduction in the youth unemployment rate by providing young people with a variety of employability opportunities, through career excursions and development and providing the start-up capital to 20 unemployed young people.

‘The project targ
ets young people that are in tertiary education and those completing vocational training to train them on basic entrepreneurship skills as well as job preparation training such as CV writing and interview techniques to mention a few,’ Ankoshi said.

He said SOS Children’s Village Namibia aims to sustainably excel in providing quality childcare and protection encompassing diverse alternative care, family preservation, and transformative youth empowerment that prioritises the well-being and development of every child and young person under its programmes.

‘We are grateful for this opportunity to partner with Finland Embassy and other stakeholders in advancing the entrepreneurship activities,’ Ankoshi said.

He added that it is a collective duty to ensure each young person’s ability is not limited by their circumstances and also encouraged young people to actively participate in activities that contribute towards their self-reliance.

Namibia’s SOS Children’s Village currently has branches in Windhoek, Tsumeb a
nd Ondangwa with over 330 vulnerable children and young people who have lost parental care.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency

WINDHOEK: The president of the Namibia Football Association, Robert Shimooshili, has stated that his vice president Murs Markus is not making any decisions about Black Africa in his capacity as an NFA council member.

Instead, Markus is utilising his role as the chairperson of the Southern Stream First Division in making those decisions.

Katutura-based Black Africa Sport Club has been unable to fulfil its fixtures since the beginning of the 2023/24 Southern Stream First Division in November this year due to protests by disgruntled fans of the club.

The protests were caused by the club having two administrations who are fielding two teams, both claiming to represent Black Africa, which led to some Black Africa fans taking to the field to stage a sit-in to prevent a match from taking place until their concerns were addressed.

Shimooshili in an interview with Nampa said that the Black Africa issue is outside of the jurisdiction of the NFA and therefore cannot be interfered with by the NFA Executive Council.

‘The FA is not allowed to address the issue of Black Africa as it concerns the Southern Stream First Division, which is our member. The stream leaders have the authority to resolve its members’ matters, without interference from anybody,’ he said.

He added that Black Africa’s leadership should also sort out their misunderstandings as this is a team with a rich history.

Shimooshili also stated that Markus must step down from his position of the Southern Stream and focus on his position as the NFA vice president.

‘Murs (Markus) needs to relinquish that position, but it will take time as it’s a process. I just relinquished my position as the chairperson of the Namibia Premier Football League and Blue Waters to avoid conflict of interest. I therefore hope he will also do so as soon as possible so that decisions that are taken in that stream are not viewed as those of the NFA,’ Shimooshili said.

He further said that what currently needs to happen is that all individuals, including himself, must attend to Black
Africa’s issues as a matter of urgency, as this matter does not reflect well for Namibian football.

‘This is not the peace and harmony we spoke about. Blue Waters, Citizens and Eleven Arrows also had divisions, but those matters were resolved. The NFA will soon issue a statement to distance themselves from decisions taken in the Southern Stream First Division because we don’t want to do things outside the statutes that will affect us,’ said Shimooshili.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency

KEETMANSHOOP: !Nami#Nus Constituency Councillor, Susan Ndjaleka has urged women and girls in her constituency to fully participate in the development of the oil, gas and green hydrogen industries that are set to take off in the constituency.

She said women and girls should receive fair recognition in all economic programmes and projects that will be implemented in these industries.

Ndjaleka who was speaking at the commemoration of International Human Rights Day and Namibia Women’s Day at Lderitz on Sunday added that women need to position themselves not to be spectators but real actors in the small and medium enterprises value chain.

She said women cannot contribute to peace without empowerment hence women need to advance gender justice.

‘It is not about political statements anymore, it is about going the extra mile and time and again we see those women themselves, wounded and abused, are the same ones going the extra mile. Without a just peace there is no peace at all, and without gender justice, fairnes
s and integrity there is no peace at all,’ said Ndjaleka.

The councillor further said women need to approach each other as being neither inferior nor superior, adding that they should give others the freedom to express their authentic selves without the fear of being negatively judged, and to interact without prejudice or bias, accepting each other regardless of race, religion, gender, class, sexual orientation, age or disability.

At the same event the constituency office through its community trust gave 20 informal traders N.dollars 2 000 vouchers each to boost their business.

About 100 women attended the event held under the theme ‘Dignity, freedom and justice for all’ that took place at the Angra Pequena Senior Secondary School at the coastal town.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency

KEETMANSHOOP: !Nami#Nus Constituency Councillor, Susan Ndjaleka has urged women and girls in her constituency to fully participate in the development of the oil, gas and green hydrogen industries that are set to take off in the constituency.

She said women and girls should receive fair recognition in all economic programmes and projects that will be implemented in these industries.

Ndjaleka who was speaking at the commemoration of International Human Rights Day and Namibia Women’s Day at Lderitz on Sunday added that women need to position themselves not to be spectators but real actors in the small and medium enterprises value chain.

She said women cannot contribute to peace without empowerment hence women need to advance gender justice.

‘It is not about political statements anymore, it is about going the extra mile and time and again we see those women themselves, wounded and abused, are the same ones going the extra mile. Without a just peace there is no peace at all, and without gender justice, fairnes
s and integrity there is no peace at all,’ said Ndjaleka.

The councillor further said women need to approach each other as being neither inferior nor superior, adding that they should give others the freedom to express their authentic selves without the fear of being negatively judged, and to interact without prejudice or bias, accepting each other regardless of race, religion, gender, class, sexual orientation, age or disability.

At the same event the constituency office through its community trust gave 20 informal traders N.dollars 2 000 vouchers each to boost their business.

About 100 women attended the event held under the theme ‘Dignity, freedom and justice for all’ that took place at the Angra Pequena Senior Secondary School at the coastal town.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency

WINDHOEK: Tim Ekandjo, Chief Human Capital, Marketing and Corporate Affairs Officer of Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), is urging the recently-elected Namibia Football Association leadership to support the senior national football team and avoid dampening their achievement of qualification.

He said this on Friday while announcing the N.dollars 2.4 million injection towards the Brave Warriors’ preparation for the upcoming 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) slated for Ivory Coast from 13 January to 11 February 2024.

Ekandjo’s comments come after a Scottish coach, Simon McMenemy, and his technical team, were rumoured to replace the incumbent Collin Benjamin and his team by 01 January 2024.

Ekandjo said for now the nation should all dedicate their efforts to ensure that the team is in the right frame of mind, with no negativity around its set-up.

‘We owe it to the entire team to go and finish what they have achieved thus far. The qualification period was an extremely difficult and challenging one for
the Brave Warriors considering that they had to endure playing away from home,’ said Ekandjo.

He added MTC is proud to see the Brave Warriors grow from strength to strength.

‘We recognise the triumphant display of perseverance from our national team. Despite various challenges faced, the boys, coach and entire management bravely forged forward and like true warriors, qualified for the upcoming 2023 African top-tier football tournament, AFCON,’ said Ekandjo.

Meanwhile, Director of Sport Jo-Ann Manuel echoed Ekanjo’s sentiments stating that for the first time in 25 years, the Brave Warriors stand a chance of progressing beyond the group stages, taking into account the team’s performance of late.

MTC through its annual innovative initiative, the MTC Knockout Project, in early November announced its intention to raise funds amongst corporate Namibia and boost the Brave Warriors campaign towards the continental tournament to be held in Ivory Coast.

The project aimed to collect N.dollars 5 million, but unfortu
nately, could only raise N.dollars 2.4 million. The Road Fund Administration and the National Housing Enterprise showed their support by contributing N.dollars 100 000 each. Another N.dollars 150 000 was added to the project funds from the gate takings of the Dr Hage Geingob Cup, and the Namibia Special Risk Insurance Association gave N.dollars 50 000. MTC provided N.dollars 2 million to the project.

In Group E, the Brave Warriors will face South Africa, Tunisia and Mali. Their opening match of the championship is scheduled for 16 January 2024, against Tunisia in Korhogo.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency