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Let the marathon trial begin

Dr Rukee Tjingaete The stage is almost set for the marathon Fish-rot trial to start. In the blue corner is the A-Team Defense Council consisting of highly competent lawyers with reputable credential of practice in court that will represent the accused. In the red corner is the state prosecuting team that have developed reputation for losing high profile corruption cases, representing the state control agencies that are in this case the Anti-Corruption Commission, Office of the Prosecutor General and NAMPOL. While the strength of the defense team could be judged from the qualifications and age of experience of the lawyers…
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The Creative Industries

The Time Traveler: Hugh Ellis From the spoken word movement’s start in Namibia until the recent Covid-19 outbreak, I routinely attended and performed at poetry nights in Windhoek. While not all the poetry was excellent, and a small amount was frankly terrible, some of it bowled me over with its lyrical genius. The movement also provided a start, or at least a boost, to many now-famous names in the music industry, including Lize Ehlers, and Mark Mushiva of Black Vulcanite fame. Last year I was privileged to be a judge at the Namibia Theatre and Film Awards. While some of…
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Capricorn Group records N$1 billion profit …as Covid-19 drives up total non-performing loans to N$1.9 billion

Capricorn Group records N$1 billion profit …as Covid-19 drives up total non-performing loans to N$1.9 billion

Staff Writer Namibian Stock Exchange listed Capricorn Group Limited released its annual financial results for the period ending 30 June 2020, where the Group’s profit after tax from continuing operations, excluding our Zambian banking operation, amounts to N$1,01 billion, which is 2.2 percent lower than the prior year. “Capricorn Group started the 2020 financial year with confidence and delivered positive half year results, despite continuing difficult economic conditions in Namibia and Zambia. Capricorn Group’s operating profits were significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic during the last quarter of the financial year, with full-year profit after tax contracting by 15.6 percent…
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Corruption and mathematical witchcraft

Dr Rukee Tjingaete You don’t need to consult Figaro the earth while mathematical genius to ask why 32,000 laptops would cost N$180 million at an average laptop market-related price of N$6 500 per laptop. (I have surveyed the market). He would mock at you in his grave. The true estimate price would be in the range of N$208million or more. In Namibia, they normally fool you by giving you a low estimate cost price at first to convince you that such project is financially viable. But once approved they slowly start to inflate figures with new calculations which in this…
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!Gawaxab commemorates 100 days in office

!Gawaxab commemorates 100 days in office

Staff Writer Bank of Namibia (BoN) Governor, Johannes !Gawaxab on Thursday commemorated his 100 days in office, while outlining his vision for the apex Bank. !Gawaxab took over the reins at the Bank at a time when the country was grappling with the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the economy. He was appointed as the third BoN Governor by President Hage Geingob in April, 2020. “I experience first-hand the resilience of the Namibian people who must face this situation daily, while the pandemic dominates without a clear ending, and who selflessly strive to save lives and the livelihoods of their…
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Baobab investments safe – GIPF …as NAMFISA de-registers fund manager

Baobab investments safe – GIPF …as NAMFISA de-registers fund manager

Staff Writer The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) says N$87 million invested by its now-deregistered fund manager Baobab Capital (Pty) through Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Baobab Growth Fund (Pty), remain secure. The GIPF had committed N$140 million in October 2016 to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which has a venture capital mandate to invest in start-up companies. This comes as the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA) on Wednesday announced that it had de-registered the fund manager. The de-registration comes after NAMFISA conducted its own investigations into the affairs of Baobab Capital (Pty) and Baobab Growth Fund (Pty). “The Fund…
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PayPulse adds new venders

PayPulse adds new venders

Staff Writer Standard Bank is proud to announce that it has added Liberty Life, Olusheno and MTC Data to its bouquet of partners on its Cardless Transaction Application, PayPulse, as part of the strategy to offer variety and enhance the mobile payment experience for our partners and customers. With the addition of the three partners, Standard Bank says customers are now able to pay their Liberty Life insurance premiums, as well as pay for the off-grid home lighting Olusheno kit and MTC Data using the convenience of PayPulse. “As the leading payment App in Namibia, PayPulse has been at the…
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MTC starts SIM upgrade campaign

MTC starts SIM upgrade campaign

Staff Writer MTC in a drive to continue the acceleration of digital transformation, has announced that it will allow prepaid customers the opportunity for a one-time FREE sim (2G/3G) upgrade to a 4G sim card. MTC Manager Retail: Infrastructure and Development, Alan Krohne, said that "the campaign will run from 15 September - 15 December 2020, and customers who swaps their sim during this time will qualify for free 3G of Data, which will be awarded over a period of 3 months." Krohne said only prepaid customers are eligible and will qualify for free SIM Swop Campaign and that sim…
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Old Mutual Personal Cover: Funeral Insurance

Old Mutual Personal Cover: Funeral Insurance

Ndangi Katoma 8 things you need to know about Old Mutual’s new funeral insurance If you are the breadwinner in your family, the day may come when your phone rings and you are called upon to open up your heart and your wallet simultaneously. How many of your family members would reach out to you first when there is not enough money to cover a funeral? If you happen to be the “go-to-guy” or “gal” in your family, forking out over N$200 000 for various family funerals over the course of your life, might not be an over-exaggeration at all.…
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Fish quotas’ auctioning bad omen for radical socio-economic transformation

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro Yours Truly Ideologically lately has been postulating that the independence of the country, achieved on March 21, 1990, was merely the Democratic Phase of the Namibian Revolution.. The Second Phase of the revolution, is the economic emancipation of the people. Meaning from an ideological perspective a situation ultimately where the people, foremost the workers, the real owners of the means of production of the country, would in real fact own the natural resources of their country. This is as opposed to being alienated from such, as was the case during the colonial era under a capitalist mode of…
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