FNB supports Van Rhyn Primary School

FNB supports Van Rhyn Primary School

Community Donation of N$10,000 from FNB Central Cluster Brian Kandanga through the FirstRand Namibia Foundation Trust. Items include: Face protector shields, gloves, hand sanitizers and masks. Due to the current situation (COVID-19) the school finds itself in a very difficult financial situation. As per WHO and Namibian Government regulations, schools need to purchase items which are very costly. The school can only guarantee quality education if the learners are healthy and if measures are in place that can protect them from the current pandemic. “From the school on the hill, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to FNB…
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Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not a policy; it is confusion

In May, fisheries minister Albert Kawana announced that the government will allocate certain horse mackerel and hake quotas to six companies. To get these quotas, companies were supposed to hire about 1,300 fishermen who lost their jobs due to the Fishrot scandal. In addition, the government has buckled to pressure and awarded quotas to new rights holders from the over 5,000 submissions that were received during the national casting call for applications for fishing quotas two years ago. To satisfy these situations, the government has decided to rob Peter to pay Paul. This has made matters worse. To spread the…
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Port of Walvis Bay receives record size vessel

Port of Walvis Bay receives record size vessel

Staff Writer The Namibian Ports Authority received one of the largest vessels to ever dock in Namibian waters; CMA CGM operated MV Mediterranean Bridge, with the length of 335.63 meters. This comes after the Port of Walvis Bay successfully handled a trial call of the first 9,000 TEUs Maersk Sheerness with the length of 335 meters in April. The Mediterranean Bridge is discharging 1,781 TEU’s and loading 697 TEU’s, which amounts to a record of 2,478 TEU’s handled on a single vessel at the Port of Walvis Bay and the vessel is scheduled to depart on 25th June 2020. Amando…
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Geingob needs better advisors

…as ill-advised labour ministry action judged to be illegal The High Court has found that the government acted against the constitution when it cherry-picked parts of the labour law and supressed certain clauses. The Minister of Labour failed by authoring this disastrous legal debacle. The Attorney General failed as he did not protect the administration by stopping the doomed labour action. Together, they exposed the president. Geingob needs better advisors. The Attorney-General, as the lawyer for the government, is supposed to do the legal research on proposed actions by the government. It is his task to go through the constitution,…
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GIPF embarks on member Education campaign

GIPF embarks on member Education campaign

Staff Writer The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) will embark on a member education campaign aimed at informing, educating and sensitizing our members about their benefits and rules of the Fund “The campaign will commerce on 29 June and will run until 31 July 2020. It is with great pleasure that we invite all our members to make use of these member information sessions on radio and print. We wish to emphasize that it is our members’ responsibility to make sure that they tune in and listen or buy the local newspapers to know more about GIPF offerings. As a…
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Namport records increases in cargo shipments

Namport records increases in cargo shipments

Staff Writer The Namibian Ports Authority (Namport) announced that it has handled one million tons of cargo carried along its four trade corridors from 01 April 2019 until 31 March 2020. Immanuel !Hanabeb, Executive: Commercial at Namport said the Port of Walvis Bay and Lüderitz had contributed equally to the success by recording 5,561,999 tons of cargo handled during this last financial year 2019/2020. “The largest portion of growth is reflected by the 100 percent increased activity along the Trans-Oranje Corridor as 204,301 tonnes of manganese ore was exported via the Port of Lüderitz. The benefit of the Trans-Oranje corridor…
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Win first – then run the tourism victory lap

Headlines blaring: ‘Tourists to return’ or ‘Namibia to open borders’ need to be examined carefully. The small print ‘terms and conditions’ for stages 4 and 5 of the re-opening, make those headlines too broad. Let us not raise expectations that cannot be met. It is important to not run a victory lap before the race is run. The hospitality, travel and tourism industry is failing and it is hurting tens of thousands of Namibians. No tourists = no tourism revenue = sector collapse. We know the industry is in pain. We do not envy policymakers who are juggling sharp knives…
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Book Review: White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

Jackie Wilson Asheeke White Fragility should be mandatory reading for all white people. Yep, I said it. Most white people do not recognize their micro-aggressions against people of colour. They would never call someone an offensive racist name. They are truly appalled at the vicious murder of George Floyd. But, they don't 'get it' that their buy-in to white privilege is part of the reason why that happened. To those who want to understand more - I challenge you to read this book and think about it. [Let me know- jackie@observer.com.na] This book was written by a white woman who…
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German Embassy contributes to Covid-19 fight

Staff Writer As part of its projects to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the German Embassy will support families in need in the areas of Gobabis, Witvlei and Okahandja and a total of approximately N$ 99,600 (EUR 5,000.00) from the Embassy’s micro project fund will be made available as an immediate measure to purchase food packages. The packages include staple foods and will be distributed to the community members by the German Evangelical Lutheran Association of Okahandja-Gobabis (ELCIN - GELC) in cooperation with the Okahandja Community Forum. The Okahandja Community Forum is a civil organization in Okahandja that…
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Uutoni summons council over Kanime

Uutoni summons council over Kanime

Staff Writer The entire City of Windhoek (CoW) council was on Monday summoned to an urgent meeting with Urban and Rural Development Minister Erastus Uutoni to discuss developments at the local authority. Among issues discussed was the contentious reappointment of City Police Chief Abraham Kanime. In his letter requesting the urgent meeting, the minister said, “This communique serves to inform your good office that I would like to have an urgent meeting with the entire Council of the City of Windhoek to consult on the developments at the City of Windhoek. I request that you provide me as soon as…
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