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23 Jan

Cutting diplomats too deeply is a risk

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The financial crisis faced by Namibia is severe. Budget cuts are required. The cuts recently announced will hit Namibian diplomats abroad too hard. There is a huge risk, and it should be done with extreme care. Horror stories abound of financially challenged countries that cannot support their diplomats abroad. It is a disgrace to any country with its diplomats, embassies and missions with water and electricity disconnected. It is shameful to have local staff suing for unpaid salaries. National humiliation ensues when diplomats are evicted from their homes. The trauma and shame of children sent home from schools for non-payment…
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American embassy staff get COVID-19 vaccine
23 Jan

American embassy staff get COVID-19 vaccine

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Maria Hamutenya American Embassy Namibia staff have become the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the country, the Windhoek Observer can reveal. This comes after doses where made available to staff recently including locals. It is, however, not clear if family members of staff, including locals were included as part of the inoculation. “Protecting and promoting the health, safety, and security of the Department of State’s workforce is our top priority so that we can continue to carry out our mission on behalf of the American people,” said the U.S. Embassy Spokesperson Walter Parrs when contacted by the Windhoek…
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Only 56 submissions from cannabis consultations
23 Jan

Only 56 submissions from cannabis consultations

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Andrew Kathindi The road to cannabis legalization in Namibia may be longer after the Ministry of Health and Social Services only received 56 submissions from consultations on the possibility of the regulation and controlled use of cannabis. “We received in total about 70, but when we went through them, there were some repeats and submissions in one document, so when one removes the repeats and resubmissions, we ended up with 56,” Registrar of Medicine in the Health Ministry, Johannes Gaeseb said. “We had questions in our public notice, so we’ll collate the answers to those questions and then make a…
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Stay cautious when using free public Wi-Fi
20 Jan

Stay cautious when using free public Wi-Fi

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Staff Writer As people look for diversity in working spaces from their normal ‘work from home’ routine, such as coffee shops, the use of free public Wi-Fi networks and hotspots in these public places calls for caution when accessing your banking or managing finances on laptops or mobile devices. Desery van Wyk, Head of Digital banking at FNB says “Consumers accessing free public Wi-Fi networks can potentially fall victim to cybercrime as fraudsters can get access to their passwords, personal and banking information. Connecting to any open or public Wi-Fi can expose you to security and privacy risks including ‘person…
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Pig Farming: An Untapped Industry in Namibia
19 Jan

Pig Farming: An Untapped Industry in Namibia

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Hanks Saisai According to the 2014 National Agriculture Census conducted by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), there are approximately 87 206 pigs countrywide and more than 50 percent are found in the communal areas of Northern Namibia. Indigenous or local breeds make up more than 50 percent of the pig population in the country. Pigs are reared for various meat products such as pork meat, bacon and as an ingredient in other products such as sausages and polony. In a country that has been affected by recurring droughts, livestock farming (cattle, sheep & goats) has been drastically affected making it…
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16 Jan

Couch Cat – Battle your fat butt and belly

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Jackie Wilson Asheeke After the holidays, eating fat food must stop. Stand in the mirror naked. Grab your belly (use two hands if you must). Then, turn around and twerk. Look at that sight in the mirror. You know exactly how much is too much. Juicy and curvy is good – but now is the time to make yourself even better. Here is what I do. First, I slow my roll with the junk and fast food. Pizza, soda, and chips are curse words for me. The best way to get your mojo back on eating properly is to pay…
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Bank Windhoek ranks best bank
16 Jan

Bank Windhoek ranks best bank

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Staff Writer PSG Namibia’s 2020 Banking Review has again ranked Bank Windhoek as the Best Bank in the country for the second consecutive year. The PSG Banking Review study provides a detailed time series and financial ratio analysis between banks in Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia. The ranking system consisted of six categories: profitability, cost efficiency, credit risk, advance growth, market share, and capital adequacy. In the Namibian bank's category, Bank Windhoek outperformed in five categories, leading to best rate amongst the major financial institutions in Namibia. The Review stated that financial ratios were based on the most recent…
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16 Jan

Do not downplay job losses due to COVID-19

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The pandemic has slapped an ailing Namibian economy in the mouth and drawn blood. Namibia should now be calculating the real economic impacts of the outbreak to get a solution that encompasses the crisis's depth and breadth. The government must not under report data about job losses due to COVID-19. This country cannot fix what is broken unless we acknowledge all that is broken, even if it paints a dismal picture. This is not the time to placate decision-makers and political bosses with optimistic, rosy scenarios. We need to look into the eyes of the pandemic beast and do battle.…
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16 Jan

Year of ideological reawakening, concerted resilience against capitalism

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Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro “The critical needs of the working class can only be fulfilled in a socialist Namibia,” members of the Marxist Study Group wrote in a piece in the Namibian newspapers headlined: “The End of Swapo?” Yours Truly Ideologically could not agree more or less with this piece, especially the aspiration towards socialism and the realisation that only socialism or socialist Namibia can fulfill the basic or critical needs of the working class in Namibia, as is the case indeed the world over. This is given the continued and continuing realisation that the needs of the working are unfulfilled, if…
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16 Jan

The Time Traveler: The power of the daily practice

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Hugh Ellis I guess quite a few of us picked up an unexpected, I-can’t-believe-s/he-is-doing-that, hobby during lockdown in 2020. For me, that hobby was the saxophone. I’d recommend learning a musical instrument to anyone, for both cultural connection and mental health, but this not directly what this column is about. It’s about the one big thing that impressed me about saxophone pedagogy, and indeed all musical instrument learning, as far as I know: you must practice every single day. I soon realised, as I guess most music students do, the great power that daily practice has. When you practice something…
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