Observer – Page 606 – Windhoek Observer

19 Jun

Close the preferential treatment door

ObserverNational Newsbillionaires, Frans Kapofi, Minister of Home Affairs

Rules and laws must apply to all, especially during a state of emergency for a global pandemic. There must be no preferential treatment for well-connected billionaires of anyone else. Apparently, Russian billionaire Rashid Sardarov's private jet landed at HK International airport with a crew of people from the outside that were not put in quarantine. The Executive Director in the ministry of works evidently commented that they have recorded increased frequencies of private planes coming in when this is not supposed to be happening. The rich and powerful do not have an inherent resistance to COVID-19. Let the pandemic restrictions…

19 Jun

Learner tests positive for COVID-19

ObserverObserver MoneyMariental High School, Ministry of Education Executive Director, Sanet Steenkamp

Andrew Kathindi Namibia has recorded its first school COVID-19 case after a 20-year-old learner from Mariental High School in the Hardap region tested positive for the virus on Thursday. The learner is case number 37 who travelled from Walvis Bay, a current hotbed for the rising COVID-19 cases in the country and attended school on 11th of June. This comes less than a month since over 49,000 learners in grade 11 and 12 across the country returned to school as part of the first phase of the Ministry of Education’s roll out plan to resume face to face teaching. Ministry…

19 Jun

Rising cases won’t determine lock down status – Shangula

ObserverObserver MoneyCovid-19, Erongo, Health Minister Kalumbi Shangula, lockdown

Andrew Kathindi With the two week lockdown in Erongo region set to end on 22 June and cases rising almost daily, Health minister Kalumbi Shangula says the extension or lifting of the stage 1 lockdown will not be determined by the rising cases. “We don’t take a decision based one or two cases. We take the totality of the factors into consideration, epidemiological, public health, economical, then we take the sum total and make a decision. There are many factors being taken into consideration, not just the number of cases. The public will know before the expiry of the deadline,”…

19 Jun

Union denies deal on Pick n Pay retrenchments

ObserverObserver MoneyNamibia Food & Allied Workers Union (NAFAU), Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group

Staff Writer It has emerged Pick n’ Pay could have jumped the gun by announcing plans to retrench 500 employees without reaching an agreement with the Namibia Food & Allied Workers Union (NAFAU). According to Nafau, the union and the retailer owned by the Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group, were still to engage over the company plans and the retrenchment announcement took it by surprise, a position confirmed by company. This also comes as it emerged that Pick n’ Pay had only communicated plans to retrench 450 employees to the union and not the 500 announced. “We are not in…

18 Jun

President Geingob’s Philosophy is paying off

ObserverUncategorised

…the case of Namibia’s COVID-19 response Lameck Odada Like any other country in the world, Namibia is also dealing with the outbreak of COVID-19 and trying to alleviate what has become a pandemic. With confirmation of the first two cases of COVID-19 in the country on March 14, 2020, President Hage Geingob declared a State of Emergency on March 17, 2020 and directed an immediate lockdown that lasted for 38 days. Among many other crucial decisions was the cancellation of the 30th Independence Day public celebration. Infections flattened at 16 cases with no new cases reported for 45 days, until…

18 Jun

Who decides the meaning of free education?

ObserverNational NewsEducation

Education ministry executive director (ED), Sanet Steenkamp made a remarkable statement (if she was quoted correctly). She said that free education does not necessarily mean that all the needs of learners will be catered for by the government. While we admire the education executive director for managing a very tough job, we must take issue with her here. The ED does not have the remit to tell Namibians what the constitution means. That question is one for the courts. Article 20 (2) of the Constitution says that the State shall provide reasonable facilities to render effective the right to education…

18 Jun

BoN cuts Repo rate to 4%

ObserverUncategorisedDeputy Governor, e Bank of Namibia (BoN), Ebson Uanguta

Staff Writer The Bank of Namibia (BoN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has cut the Repo rate from 4.25 percent to 4 percent, a move which translates to a cumulative 2.50 percentage point reduction since the beginning of the year. “This decision was taken following a review of global, regional and domestic economic and financial developments. The MPC is of the view that at this level the rate is appropriate to continue supporting domestic economic activity while at the same time safeguarding the one-to-one link between the Namibia Dollar and the South African Rand,” Deputy Governor of the Bank of Namibia,…

18 Jun

Namibia records two new Covid cases

ObserverObserver MoneyCovid-19, Minister of Health and Social Services

Staff Writer The Minister of Health and Social Services Kalumbi Shangula on Wednesday evening announced that Namibia had recorded two additional positive cases of Covid-19 ,bringing the total number of cases to 36. According to the minister, Case 35 is a 26-years old Namibian male, resident of Walvis Bay, who went to the Walvis Bay hospital on 15th June 2020 complaining of cough, difficulty in breathing, headache and fever since the 14 June 2020. “He was picked up by the ambulance on the same day and taken to the hospital. He was screened, swabbed and then admitted in isolation ward.…

18 Jun

Lack of land hamstrings NHE

ObserverObserver MoneyNational Housing Enterprise (NHE), NHE, Public Private Partnership (PPP)

Andrew Kathindi The National Housing Enterprise (NHE) says the lack of land has been a hindrance in delivering on its mandate. Speaking to Windhoek Observer, NHE corporate communications manager, Eric Libongani, said the NHE has no special access and has to compete for land just like private developers, in a country where the scarcity of viable land for housing development is a challenge. “We do not want to look like we are pointing fingers but I think what is critical, we need to realize that the institution that is given the sole mandate on behalf of government to construct houses…

18 Jun

Fishcor boss speaks out

ObserverObserver MoneyFishcor, Paulus Ngalangi

..as Case 33 poses a conundrum for police Andrew Kathindi Fishcor General Manager for Finance Paulus Ngalangi on Wednesday spoke out over his links and involvement with a Covid-19 positive South African suspect arrested by the police in Windhoek’s City Centre over the weekend. Ngalangi whose term ended as Fishcor’s Acting boss in May, said he had transported the suspected who is now in police custody “as a favor” to an unidentified friend and enlisted the services of a police officer, who has been arrested. “I was asked by a friend to collect a gentleman who was stuck with transport…