While early predictions have been dire due to the current strength of the El Nino weather phenomenon, several forecasters who look more at seasonal factors and natural indicators did indeed feel that good rains might be in the proverbial pipeline.
However, while this is good news, after two years of capricious and low rainfall, the state of the dams in the country are dire and copious rains are needed to fill them.
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Rain forecast adjusted upwards
Congolese army chief’s claim bogged down
The hearing of a lawsuit involving the missing N$9 million of the Congolese army General Francois Olenga just cannot get out of the starting blocks.
Earlier in the year, the matter was postponed to yesterday for the appearance of the plaintiff’s witness, who again did not appear yesterday, causing the matter to be postponed to April 18 next year. It is expected that the general will call more witnesses.
Olenga is trying to trace N$9 million he allegedly left in the care of Swakopmund-based estate agent Erwin Spranger.
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B1 claims four more lives
Four people died in another horrific head-on collision on the Okahandja – Otjiwarongo B1 highway early yesterday morning.
According to police spokesperson Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi, the accident took place about 32 kilometres north of Okahandja at 05:45.
The deceased have been identified as Miriam Heita, Hilia Mwatukange, Nicanor Haipinge and Anna Paulina Moxuka. According to the police in the Otjozondjupa Region the truck was en route to Windhoek and carried vegetables from the farm Soetwater in the Grootfontein district.
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Calle walks tightrope
Six months after the tabling of the national budget, the government will reallocate N$4 billion to TransNamib, the mass housing project, the Neckartal Dam project and the mass land servicing programme, among many other urgent priorities.
Through internal relocation a total of N$775.3 million will be made available for salary adjustments for civil servants and N$218.9 million for hardship allowances for teachers working at remote schools.
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Solidarity tax will bring in N$600 million
Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein says the government will collect up to N$600 million a year once the solidarity tax – aimed at fighting poverty – is introduced in the 2016/17 financial year, while a presumptive tax targeting small-scale traders is also on the cards.
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RDP determined to dent Swapo’s popularity
The opposition Rally for Democracy and Progress says it has fielded energetic and dynamic youthful candidates to challenge “Swapo’s hegemony” in the Ohangwena Region where the ruling party obtained over 90% of the votes in last year’s presidential and National Assembly elections.
Addressing a series of rallies and public meetings around Helao Nafidi town recently, the RDP’s Vilho Shimwooshili expressed the hope that voters will not make the same mistake this time round.
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Former diplomat to head genocide talks
The Namibian government has announced that former diplomat Zed Ngavirue is the country’s envoy who will pave the way for the long-awaited dialogue with Germany on genocide reparations.
Ngavirue’s German counterpart will be Ruprecht Polenz, a long-serving chairperson of the German Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.
International Relations Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah said the two governments have agreed on a team of special envoys to spearhead the dialogue.
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Schoolgirl narrowly escapes rape
A Grade 7 learner at the Michelle McLean Primary School has told Namibian Sun a compelling story of how she struggled to get away from a man who tried to rape her on Monday morning.
The child, whose name cannot be mentioned, said she was late for school and her friends had left her behind, so she had to walk alone. The school is a 20-minute walk from her home.
Dreading the trouble she could get into for getting to school late, she took a shortcut through a bushy area in Otjomuise 2.
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Professional hit at gun shop
A highly organised and focused group of thieves has been targeting businesses in the Northern, Southern and Prosperita industrial areas in Windhoek.
While most of the well-planned heists have involved cash booty of hundreds of thousands, the burglary at Ahrens Guns and Ammunition in Gold Street, Prosperita, does not bode well for the safety and security of law-abiding citizens.
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Tributes flow in for veteran journalist
The death of veteran journalist and former Namibian Sun editor Jan Poolman has triggered an outpouring of grief and tributes by the media fraternity, who are mourning one of their own.
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Geingob supports striking fishermen
President Hage Geingob has expressed support for fishermen who embarked on an illegal strike demanding better conditions of employment.
Geingob, who met with some of the workers and union representatives at State House yesterday afternoon, expressed sympathy with the workers, saying that slavery cannot be condoned.
He said Namibia should imitate countries like China which allow any country to do business within its boundaries but on condition that companies comply with local laws.
“We cannot be partners if you deny our own people their human rights,” Geingob said.
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Government urged to rethink solidarity tax
An online petition imploring President Hage Geingob to stop the introduction of a ‘solidarity tax’ is doing the rounds on social media and gaining momentum.
The petition, which by yesterday afternoon had gathered over 400 signatures, was drafted by a young woman on Friday after Geingob hinted during the poverty conference that the government would introduce a solidarity tax to fund projects aimed at fighting poverty.
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Frontpage
Court sentences killer to 35 years
A 23-year-old self-confessed killer, who murdered his girlfriend who was seven months pregnant, was jailed for 35 years yesterday.
Elfrieda Swartbooi was stabbed at least 14 times in the neck and chest with a hunting knife in October, 2013. She died as a result of the injuries sustained and excessive loss of blood.
Judge Christie Liebenberg, in passing sentence, said Isak van der Westhuizen brutally stabbed the deceased to death at Maltahöhe before trying to commit suicide.
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Warriors touch down in Angola
Six players were dropped from Namibia’s national football team that will be playing in a four-nation tournament in Angola this weekend.
Blue Waters duo Johannes Nambuli and Gabriel Malakia and Young Chiefs’ Edmund Amugongo are among the six players that did not make the trip to Angola as the local-based Brave Warriors visit Luanda for Angola’s 40th independence anniversary football tournament.
The tournament will feature the host country, Namibia, Republic of Congo and Zambia.
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NUST football team dreams of NPL participation
The Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST) football team is looking forward to one day competing in the country’s top-flight league.
The fledgling team, who are still campaigning in the Khomas Second Division, received a kit sponsorship from Veron and Sons Trading Company on Wednesday.
“We’ve never had a sponsor before and this is really a boost for us,” said the team’s coach, Ananias Summer Kashindi.
He added that the sponsorship will serve as great motivation for the team as it will inspire the players to give their best.
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Pensioners march on Kazapua's office
Mayor of Windhoek Muesee Kazapua has shown his support for the hundreds of pensioners who yesterday demonstrated in front of his office demanding for the municipal debts of the senior citizens to be written off.
Kazapua, who accepted the petition of the senior citizens, said his office will look into the matter and study the points raised in the petition which he says will not be taken for granted.
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Govt mum over Israeli vote
Namibia says it will not explain why it was the only country which voted against Israel to be a member of the United Nations (UN) Space Agency, recently.
According to Israeli media, 117 countries voted in favour of Israel membership to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
Twenty-one countries including Qatar, Tunisia, Syria, Mauritania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraq and Algeria abstained, while Namibia was the only country that voted against.
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Poolman memorial
The memorial service of veteran journalist Jan Poolman will be held on Monday at 10:00 at the Chapel of the Gammams Cemetery. Poolman, 61, died on Tuesday night in Windhoek’s Roman Catholic Hospital. He leaves behind his wife Ronel, three children: Francois, Mario and Nadia, and two grandchildren.
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