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Ester Mbathera Namibia will chair the SADC Fisheries Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) for the next two years. The SADC Ministers of Agriculture, Food Security, Fisheries, and Aquaculture confirmed Stanley Ndara as the MCSCC board chairperson last week. The board will be driving the process to operationalize the MCSCC and ensure that we improve regional efforts to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Ndara is also chairperson of the SADC Fisheries Regional Technical Team for the MCSCC's establishment. “Having a Namibian as the chairperson of an important regional technical team within SADC showcases Namibia's expertise and leadership…

Niël Terblanché The ministers of fisheries and marine resources and labour, industrial relations, and employment creation have announced a review of the Government Employment Redress Programme (GERD). The programme, launched in 2020, was intended to secure approximately 2 500 jobs for fishermen who had lost their employment for various reasons. Fisheries Minister Derek Klazen explained that the GERD will be re-negotiated to ensure fishermen can find active work on vessels. This decision followed a consultation meeting with ex-fishermen and their employers on Thursday. Klazen noted that many fishermen prefer working on vessels due to their higher earning potential compared to…

Martin Endjala The Hardap Regional Police crime investigation coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Eric Clay, says the police are waiting for Aranos council officials to return from sports games in Gobabis to interrogate them about the 20 litres of diesel that were stolen from a standstill truck at the Aranos Town Council workshop last week. Commissioner Clay said that investigations are proceeding well in the matter, but no arrests have been made so far and they are still gathering information. “No arrests have been made at this point, but we are aware that the Aranos council is attending local authorities' sports in…

Martin Endjala The National Unity Democratic Organisation’s (NUDO) secretary general and member of parliament, Joseph Kauandenge, says he is disheartened to note that the Swapo-led delimitation commission is targeting the Zambezi region again. He said that for over 34 years of independence, the Swapo party had overlooked and disadvantaged the region. “If one takes into account the proposed regional boundaries in the Kavango Region, it is clear that they want to divide this region into smaller constituencies not to make it easier to serve the residents there but to make it easier to control them and to impoverish them even…

Niël Terblanché Gabriel Kanyanga, the Mayor of Rundu, has announced that the border town’s municipality is considering taking over the distribution of electricity to residents due to dissatisfaction with the current regional electricity distributor, Nored. Kanyanga expressed his concerns during a stakeholders' consultation meeting where Nored proposed tariff increase for 2024-2025 was presented. Kanyanga indicated that Nored's service delivery has been subpar, leaving Rundu in the dark despite the company generating revenue from electricity consumers. He stressed that the municipality does not benefit from the sale of electricity under the current arrangement. "We are looking into taking over the electricity…

Martin Endjala The Central Procurement Board of Namibia (CPBN) is busy studying the High Court ruling last week, which nullified the CPBN decision to award a N$1.3 billion pharmaceutical supply tender to Cospharm Investment Pty Ltd. CPBN spokesperson Johanna Kambala said this in response to questions about whether the board will re-run the tender process or possibly re-award it. “Kindly be informed that CPBN is busy studying the ruling and thus will only revert once consultations have taken place,” said Kambala. Businessman Shapwa Kanyama's Africure Pharmaceutical took Cospharm, the CPBN, and other bidders to court last year. Cospharm was to…