January 21, 2016, 4:00 pm
The police yesterday inaugurated a N$14.8 million helicopter facility in Oshakati to strengthen the fight against crime in northern Namibia.
Speaking at the inauguration of the revamped police facility, Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga said it would make it possible to bring the crime rate in the North down to an acceptable level.
The facility consists of a landing pad, a helicopter hangar, accommodation for the pilots and maintenance team and a garage for police vehicles which should improve the response time in cases of emergency.
Read more about Police choppers get a home in Oshakati
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January 21, 2016, 4:00 pm
The executive director of Namrights, Phil ya Nangoloh, says an independent commission of inquiry is needed to fight poaching in the country “because of the deep involvement by high-ranking political figures in the sale of rhino horns and elephant tusks”.
Ya Nangoloh also says he is not convinced that the minister of environment and tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, “is serious about rooting out poaching in the country, despite what he is trying to tell the public”.
Read more about Ya Nangoloh calls for poaching inquiry
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January 21, 2016, 4:00 pm
Youth activist Job Amupanda has been appointed as the deputy dean of the University of Namibia’s Faculty of Economics and Management Science.
The appointment makes Amupanda the youngest dean at Namibia’s largest academic institution.
Unam staff describe the appointment as an inspiring story, not only because of Amupanda’s background, but also because he is a former Unam student and a former president of its Student Representative Council.
Read more about Job lands top job
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January 21, 2016, 4:00 pm
The Katima Mulilo Regional Court has sentenced Swapo official Vincent Likoro to 10 years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping a female colleague in July 2013.
Magistrate Bongani Ndlovu presided over the sentencing yesterday. Likoro has indicated through his lawyer, Kennedy Haraseb of Metcalfe Attorneys, that he will appeal the ten-year jail term. On Monday, the regional court convicted Likoro, a special advisor to Swapo secretary-general Nangolo Mbumba, on one of two rape charges against him.
Read more about Likoro gets 10 years
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January 21, 2016, 4:00 pm
After months of simmering discontent, students at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) yesterday scored a big victory after a lockdown protest saw the university management and government abolishing registration fees.
Marching under the banner #VarsityLockDown, hundreds of students assembled at the institutions chanting the famous #FeesMustFall. Many others joined the students in solidarity, especially on social media where they too decried the high university tuition fees.
Read more about Registration fees fall
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January 21, 2016, 10:26 pm
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January 24, 2016, 4:00 pm
Impractical, senseless and a threat to their business
This is how liquor industry associations described South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s plan to ban smoking in public places last week.
In October last year, the minister said: “We are going to ban total smoking in public areas. At the moment, we have put a corner in restaurants and a corner at the airport.
“We have also, stupidly, even put a corner at the hospital,” he said.
He was speaking at the launch of a 24-hour health television channel in Alexandra, Joburg.
Read more about Anti-smoking backlash
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January 24, 2016, 4:00 pm
A snap survey by the Zimbabwe Independent has found that there is a biting cash shortage which has forced banks to lower their daily automated teller machine (ATM) withdrawal limits from US$3 000 (N$50 100) to US$800 (N$13 360), the newspaper reported on Friday.
The newspaper added some locally-owned banks had long suspended dispensing cash at most of their ATMs, with a government-owned bank going without ATM transactions since the festive season in an effort to manage the cash shortage.
Read more about Zim ATMs run out of cash
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January 24, 2016, 4:00 pm
President Hassan Rouhani says sceptics who had warned a nuclear deal with world powers would not bring benefits to Iran “were all proven wrong.
“Within a few hours” of the nuclear deal being implemented and sanctions lifted “1 000 lines of credit were opened by various banks,” Rouhani told reporters in Tehran.
“This showed that those who used to say, ‘do not believe’ were mistaken,” he said, stressing the deal would now make it easier for Iranian businesses to operate after years of being frozen out of the international financial system.
Read more about Sceptics of Iran nuclear deal ‘all proven wrong’ - Rouhani
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January 24, 2016, 4:00 pm
A snap survey by the Zimbabwe Independent has found that there is a biting cash shortage which has forced banks to lower their daily automated teller machine (ATM) withdrawal limits from US$3 000 (N$50 100) to US$800 (N$13 360), the newspaper reported on Friday.
The newspaper added some locally-owned banks had long suspended dispensing cash at most of their ATMs, with a government-owned bank going without ATM transactions since the festive season in an effort to manage the cash shortage.
Read more about Zim ATMs run out of cash
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January 24, 2016, 4:00 pm
The protest action on Thursday of last week yielded positive results for the students of the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Unam with the cancellation of registration fees and the scrapping of all student debts.
While this action has been welcomed and criticised by different sectors of society, is has brought immense relief to thousands who are fighting to secure an education and more so, to their parents and guardians.
One of the many joyous and happy students to welcome the good news is 21-year-old NUST engineering student Laurentius Haindaka.
Read more about The faces behind #VarsityLockDown
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January 24, 2016, 4:00 pm
Government’s helping hand will only be extended to those who deserve it. This was confirmed by the Minister of Higher Education, Training and Innovation Dr Itha Kandji-Murangi who said it makes no sense bailing out students who are failing.
Kandji-Murangi who served as Dean of students at Unam before her appointment as minister said as a mother she is indeed “touched” by the plight of the students.
Read more about Fees may have not fallen
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January 24, 2016, 4:00 pm
The Minister of Urban and Rural Development Sophia Shaningwa has slammed local authorities who oppose the proposed amendments to the Local Authorities Act, 23 of 1992, saying government cannot allow local authorities to be dominated by one race only. Shaningwa made these statements during a public hearing by the National Council Select Committee on the Local Authorities Amendment Bill 2015 on Friday.
Read more about Shaningwa blasts opponents of new Bill
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January 24, 2016, 10:43 pm
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January 25, 2016, 4:00 pm
Just a week after schools opened, learners from Ongwediva Junior Secondary School were seen going to school on Saturday morning.
The Oshana acting education director, Immanuel Haipanda, said if the intention was to improve pass rates, and it was agreed upon by the school board and parents, there was nothing wrong with weekend classes.
Some people said the extra sessions were meant to improve school performance.
“If it is the individual school’s view of improving the school’s results, then it is good,” said Haipanda.
Read more about Weekend classes kick off in the North
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January 25, 2016, 4:00 pm
The cost of basic food products in Angola’s southern Cunene Province has doubled because of the Namibian currency gaining strength against the kwanza, the Jornal de Angola newspaper has reported.
This, coupled with an increase in customs fees, has resulted in major shopping centres and open markets reporting an increase in food prices.
The official exchange rate of the Angolan kwanza (AOA) to the Namibia dollar is set at 17:1 but unofficially it is traded at up to 25:1.
Read more about Food prices skyrocket in Angola
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January 25, 2016, 4:00 pm
Increased sales in the last three months of 2015 appear to have bolstered Namibia’s struggling dairy industry.
Feared last year to be on the brink of collapse due to what local producer Namibia Dairies said was a combination of cheap imports from South Africa spurred by global oversupply, and difficult conditions faced by local farmers, the sector has of late experienced some kind of a rebound.
Read more about Dairy sector beats the odds
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January 25, 2016, 4:00 pm
More than 50 construction workers employed by a Chinese-owned company JZC subcontracted at the N$480 million Dunes Mall project in Walvis Bay briefly withdrew their services on Friday.
The workers were sent home after they met with Afrideca Construction (the main contractor) project manager Hein Coetzer and informed him about their grievances.
Coetzer confirmed he had discussions with the workers and Metal and Allied Namibian Workers Union (MANWU) branch coordinator Enwich Kazondu on work-related issues.
Read more about Dunes Mall impasse resolved
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January 25, 2016, 4:00 pm
The Namibia Agricultural Union will meet with police Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga on the increase in farm invasions and other security issues on February 1.
This follows two attacks in the Otjiwarongo area, the most recent a botched attack on Saturday at Lion’s Den located a few kilometres out of town, and the recent farm murder of Hartwig Koehler, in which a suspect has been arrested at last. It is believed a crime syndicate is operating in the area.
Read more about Suspected syndicate targets Otji farmers
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January 25, 2016, 4:00 pm
Meatco will no longer operate and manage the two government-owned abattoirs in the Northern Communal Area (NCA) after accumulating immense losses for several years.
As a result of these operational challenges, Meatco has said it will not renew its contracts with the government to operate the Oshakati and Katima Mulilo abattoirs. The company will instead make use of mobile slaughter units within the NCA.
The Oshakati and Katima Mulilo abattoirs have been managed and operated by Meatco since 1991, but over the years huge losses were incurred.
Read more about Meatco halts abattoir operations
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