Category: General

Minister of Urban and Rural Development (MURD), Erastus Uutoni, handed over 50 houses constructed by the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) at Omuthiya in the Oshikoto region on Monday.

The construction of the houses commenced in July 2022 to October 2023, giving employment to 48 contractors.

Utoni during the handover encouraged the nation to appreciate the government’s efforts in developing the country and not only focus on the negative.

‘People should be frank and take their time and analyse what the government is doing as it is something very praiseworthy.

I am happy that the local authority is trying its best to ensure that land is provided and for the financial institutions that are coming in to support,’ he said.

The minister further encouraged civil servants to make use of the 20 per cent housing and transport allowance that was recently added to their salaries to buy houses.

Both the local authorities and NHE are part of the same government serving the same people, and striving to achieve the sa
me vision, he noted while calling on local authorities to help people so they make life easy for them and develop the country.

NHE board chairperson, Toska Sem, said that they are ushering the 50 houses to lucky families as the NHE is mandated to build and finance quality and affordable housing products for Namibian inhabitants.

She urged local authorities in the country to support NHE in allocating affordable land to the Enterprise.

Maria Hannes, representing the beneficiaries, said that she is very excited to own a house after so many years of renting.

‘I am very tired of renting so I am very grateful to my NHE salesperson for giving me a house that I have been longing for,’ said Hannes.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

A 46-year-old man is expected to appear in the Karasburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday after he allegedly raped a 17-year-old girl.

Namibian Police Force crime investigations coordinator for the ||Kharas Region, Deputy Commissioner Nikodemus Mbango, told Nampa on Sunday that the alleged rape happened at around midnight on Saturday at farm Kum Kum in the Warmbad district.

It is alleged that the victim was visiting the bathroom when suspect followed her and demanded they have sex, which she refused.

‘When the victim refused, the suspect pulled off her underwear, they wrestled and suspect overpowered the victim. He completely removed her underwear and had sexual intercourse with her without her consent,’ said Mbango.

Police investigations continue.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Daren Tang, arrived in Namibia on Sunday for a three-day visit aimed at exploring the role of intellectual property in Namibia’s economic transformation and social impact.

Tang’s visit is anticipated to foster collaboration between WIPO and Namibia on harnessing intellectual property for economic growth.

Arriving at the Hosea Kutako International Airport on Sunday, Tang was welcomed by a delegation representing the Namibian government, including the Chief Executive Officer of the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA), Vivienne Katjioungua, and BIPA spokesperson, Ockert Jansen.

Speaking at the occasion, Jansen expressed the country’s eagerness to understand the economic value of intellectual property and how the Namibian government could leverage it to position the nation as an economic powerhouse, not only in Africa but globally.

Throughout his stay, Tang is scheduled to engage in meetings with key government officials
, including Vice President Nangolo Mbumba and Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila. Discussions will encompass the integration of intellectual property into the education curriculum, emphasising early education on the value of creativity and innovation.

As a notable aspect of his visit, Tang, a jazz pianist himself, will explore the creative industry’s impact on the economy. This includes a visit to the studio of renowned local artist, King TeeDee.

‘The creative industry is very close to the heart of the WIPO Director-General, because he himself is a musician and he loves and enjoys music, but he also wants to see, along with Namibia, what the contribution of the creative sector is on the economy,’ Jansen said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Namibia’s five-time Premier League Champions, African Stars Football Club, on Sunday announced the firing of their head coach, Prince George Koffie, with immediate effect.

This comes just four months after he started working for the team.

On Sunday, the club released a statement on their social media platforms, saying that they have parted ways with their head coach in an amicable manner.

The statement goes on to thank Prince George Koffie for his dedicated service to the club and wishes him success in his future endeavours.

In an interview with Nampa, on Sunday club chairman, Salomon Hei, confirmed the dismissal of their head coach, stating that they had specific short, medium, and long-term goals that needed to be achieved, and the coach had not delivered on most of them.

‘One of the reasons the coach was released was the failure to get positive results against Eeshoke Chula Chula at the Dr Hage Geingob Cup. As a big club, we cannot struggle to get results from a team that just got promoted to the pre
mier league,’ he said.

Hei added that one of their short-term goals was to get into Africa, hence the reason they took the team for a full month of preparation with a trip to Botswana, because their goal was to get into the group stages of the African Champions League, which did not happen.

‘Despite not getting the team into the Champions League, our goal is to retain the Debmarine Namibia Premiership title, which the coach partially achieved by having enough points that keep us within the challenge for the premiership trophy. However, the coach failed to give the team a unique style of football and the identity of a big team,’ Hai said.

Mervin Mbakera, who won the team its fifth Premier League title last season, will resume his role as the head coach of the team. Hei stated that Mbakera was on national duty with the women’s national team, and his assignment had come to an end. Therefore, he will be taking over his reigns.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Farmers are divided over the exploration of uranium in the Stampriet Aquifer, as some believe the process will contaminate underground water.

The exploration, which is supposed to be carried out by Uranium One in the Aminuis and Leonardville area, has sparked mixed feelings among residents in the area.

This was revealed during a parliament standing committee on natural resources’ visit to deliberate on concerns on Friday in Leonardville, within the Aminuis Constituency in the Omaheke Region.

During the visit, Tjekero Tweya, the committee’s chairperson, highlighted that his committee had come to the concerned communities and farmers to listen to them before making recommendations to parliament.

‘We have come to hear you out, discuss issues as adults, and as responsible citizens. Parliament will make a decision that will affect everyone. We will not make the decision here today; we will collect your concerns and also endeavour to find solutions based on your recommendations. We didn’t want to defer this di
scussion to next year because we want to understand your concerns and collaborate on finding solutions for the benefit of all of us,’ Tweya indicated.

Former member of Parliament, Atti Riruako, urged the parliament’s standing committee to seek information from independent experts and compare it with the experts used by those who oppose the exploration before making any recommendations to parliament.

‘I urge you to seek scientific knowledge before proceeding with this exploration. We are concerned about the contamination of underground water, and this concern stems from research conducted by many other experts globally regarding uranium mining,’ said Riruako.

Petra Witbooi, the chairperson of the Leonardville village council, stated that people had criticised those opposing the exploration, noting that residents in her town are experiencing hunger and require employment and food.

‘Some claim that Uranium One is providing us with food parcels to obtain approval for their exploration, but that is not true. W
e are hungry and dismayed by that,’ she highlighted.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Works and Transport Minister, John Mutorwa, expressed the need for stakeholders to find more ways to invest in the road safety across the African continent.

Mutorwa in remarks delivered on his behalf during the commemoration of the 12th Africa Road Safety Day in Swakopmund on Sunday, recognised and commended current Sub-sectoral interventions and initiatives but stressed the requirement for stakeholders to dig deeper into their reserves to make national roads safe and citizens safer.

‘We recognise the current funding limitations as a result of the global financial crunch that affect us in terms of new austerity measures, but we need to see how we can creatively and innovatively apply the available resources to the greater good of the sub-sector,’ he explained.

The minister noted that road traffic accidents have emerged as an important public health issue, which needs to be tackled by a multi-disciplinary approach.

‘The trend in road traffic accident injuries and death is becoming alarming, so much that r
oad traffic accidents induce loss of three per cent of African Gross Domestic Product, as more than 296 000 lives are lost each year.

The victims include engineers, doctors, nurses, businessmen or business women, teachers, lawyers and the list go on. These are economically active members of the Namibian society.’

Inspector General of the Namibian Police Force, Lieutenant General Joseph Shikongo, added that despite the extent of the problem, the issue of road traffic death and injury and the suffering of victims has been largely ignored until now.

‘It has been left mainly to non-governmental victim organisations to offer assistance to fellow victims and to try and change attitudes by highlighting the extreme human suffering caused by road traffic crashes and the indifference by society,’ he said.

Shikongo explained that every citizen has a role to play in supporting road traffic accident victims and that support must be provided by all stakeholders in the sub-sector.

The First African Road Safety Day was
launched on 18 November 2012, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and since its inception, African states have commemorated the loss of its people on national highways.

The day is commemorated on every third Sunday of each November with the aim to educate and create awareness about the plight of the victims of traffic related deaths and injuries.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency