Opinions

Nandeshasho Nickanor The extractive industries stand at a critical crossroads, because while the world demands resources, there are also calls for urgent action to protect our natural environment. Mining, often perceived solely as extractive, holds a powerful opportunity to contribute meaningfully to global biodiversity goals. By embedding biodiversity and community well-being into operational DNA, the sector can demonstrate that development and conservation are not opposing forces but complementary pillars of sustainable progress.  Biodiversity as an operational priority This goes beyond compliance but is a conscious integration guided by a company’s environmental policy. Through efforts such as habitat restoration, biodiversity monitoring,…

Taapopi Naftali  As a student leader, I have seen firsthand how student representative bodies like NANSO, NASA, SUN, and others are constantly contradicted and undermined, often for the wrong reasons. These organisations are essential because they are the voice of the learners; they identify challenges, propose solutions, and implement programmes that improve the educational experience for everyone. Yet, instead of being supported, we face unnecessary resistance from directors, principals, and institutional authorities.  Student leaders are often blocked from carrying out their programmes; mentorship initiatives, awareness campaigns, peer-support sessions, and skill-building workshops are delayed or cancelled due to bureaucracy and unnecessary…

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro Air Namibia ceased operations and was liquidated in 2021. The Namibian government decided to shut it down as a last resort given the substantial financial burden on the state.  Thus, Namibia currently lacks a national flag carrier, for better or worse. For better or worse. For better with its demise having been a good riddance for releasing much-needed resources for other priorities rather than investing such in a bottomless hole as it seemed. Although given the kleptomaniac culture that has for long now been engulfing and gripping the country extensively, firmly and systemic, there’s no certainty if indeed…

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) Abstract With the Inter-Africa Trade Fair (IATF) taking place in Algiers this September under the theme “a gateway to new opportunities” underpinned by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), this article follows in the footsteps of the article on 30 August 2025 that appeared in this newspaper under the title “Diplomacy or Trade: Where is the centre of gravity? In that article, it is said that today’s ambassadors are called upon to transcend traditional confines and embrace their paramount role as Namibia’s chief economic architects and frontline salespeople in…