Day: July 22, 2023

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO) on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, commended the SADC Secretariat and Member States for successfully implementing 42 out of 58 decisions, while seven others are underway.

This brings it to a total of 86 per cent implementation of the decisions of the meeting held in July 2022.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said this here on Friday during the closing session of the SADC 25th Ordinary Meeting, adding that the meeting received updates and progress reports on programmes and efforts to consolidate peace, democracy and good governance in the region.

“The said report includes, amongst others, the proposed amendments to the revised SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections in light of the upcoming elections in the region, specifically the Republic of Zimbabwe, the Republic of Madagascar, the Kingdom of Estawini, and the Democratic Republic of Congo,” she said.

The chairperson added that the meeting was updated on the political and security situation in the region, defence policy issues and State security, which are areas of equal importance that contribute to the peace and security architecture in the region.

“I am pleased to note that our interventions in the Kingdom of Lesotho are yielding results, as per the report presented to our meetings. We are looking forward to the eventual removal of Lesotho from the agenda of the organ very soon,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.

The incoming chairperson of the MCO is Stanley Kakubo, Zambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the upcoming summit will be held in Luanda, Angola.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

The resignation of two management committee councillors at the Karasburg Town Council has resulted in the council not conducting decision making meetings, hampering the delivery of services to the residents of the town.

The town council has not had management committee meeting for the past two months.

This was picked up by Nampa during the ||Kharas Regional Council development coordination committee meeting here on Wednesday.

The town council’s Local Economic Development Practitioner, Hieronimus Basson told the meeting that Council sits with N.dollars 500 000 for the Build Together project but nothing can be done without a management committee meeting.

“Decisions cannot be made in the absence of management committee meetings, nothing can be approved or so, we even have funds from Road Fund Administration for roads, however we cannot utilise that also. It was recommended that we do a strategic plan which was done at the cost of N.dollars 296 000, however it still sits on my desk waiting for council approval,” he said.

He added that the council spent over N.dollars 300 000 for a consultant company to evaluate and assess old council buildings at the town to determine their value and what the council could use them for.

Nampa is reliably informed that the Karasburg Town Council has at least N.dollars 7.2 million “lying around” that awaits to be utilised to the benefit of the residents.

Basson said during the 2023/2024 financial year, the council has allocated close to N.dollars 1 million to install a water treatment plant to reduce council operating costs when providing water to the residents, and the project is 80 per cent completed.

The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development has approved the construction of a fire station at the cost of N.dollars 4.5 million, however such construction cannot happen in the absence of a management committee.

The management committee is the link between the administration and council of any local authority, it manages the operation of the institution on a day-to-day basis and ensures that resolutions taken are carried out.

Karasburg Mayor, Maria Veldskoen when approached for comment on the matter, promised to get back to this news agency but failed to do so, whereas repeated follow-up attempts also failed to yield a response.

The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) has four out of the seven seats at the Karasburg Town Council, while Swapo has two and Independent Patriots of Change has one.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Crop farmers should start embracing new farming methods in order to increase their yields.

This was the advice of a crop farmer in the Zambezi Region, Liswani Kambinda in an interview with Nampa, adding that times have changed and the old traditional way of ploughing needed to be revisited.

He said new farming methods such as conservation agriculture will enhance the yield and efficiently dodge unexpected droughts.

He added that conservational farming uses a ripper on the tractors, that no matter how little the rain will fall in the year, the water will be stored while crops will be kept wet and fresh for a long time.

The crop farmer who tills his 17 hectares of land every year, noted that: “Rain nowadays is not the same rain the farmers would receive back then, therefore it is important that the new good agriculture practices are encouraged.”

Kambinda says last year he got a bumper harvest of over 400 bags of maize, while this year he only managed to get 81 bags of 61 kilogrammes of maize due to low rainfall.

Ploughing earlier, using certified seeds and weeding on time, he said are some of the factors that contribute to a high yield of harvest and therefore advised his fellow farmers to always plough on time from mid to end of November and to the first week of December.

“With less rainfall received this year, drought is definitely hitting many and this is unfortunate, and I foresee an increase in prices of maize meal in stores,” he said.

He further advised those in the agricultural industry to keep abreast with climate change, saying with the frost being experienced in the month of July, crops and fruit trees are burning from the cold fronts.

He added that across the globe, other countries are experiencing floods and too much rainfall causing a loss of life and habitation for many.

Close to a hundred farmers in the Zambezi Region have lost their crops to early floods and drought this year, while many others harvested only 10 to 50 bags of maize.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

The Northern Regional Electricity Distributor (NORED) has renewed its strategic partnership, in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding, with the Rundu Vocational Training Centre (RVTC) on Friday.

The five-year agreement is aimed at enhancing bilateral collaboration and cooperation in the field of technical and vocational education and training.

NORED and RVTC officially inked this MoU in July 2015, and to date, over 100 electrical trainees have received internships at NORED through this agreement.

NORED Chief Executive Officer Fillemon Nakashole said technical and vocational education and training are crucial for sustainability and socio-economic development.

“Therefore, the signing of another MoU today between the two institutions affirms our clear joint commitment and ambitions on skill development and capacity building to ensure that we produce superior human resources who are competitive and ready to enter the global workforce,” he said.

Additionally, the signing of the MoU is a huge incentive to both NORED and RVTC, as it will strengthen the collaboration mainly in the areas of education, research and development, and practice, he added.

The MoU includes amongst others, assisting RVTC in equipping their training workshops through sponsorships, and provide guest lectures to RVTC in order to inspire and motivate general electrical trainees or any other trades where it may be required.

NORED staff will also attend short courses for capacity building and basic skills upgrading purposes at a favourable (agreed) rate on the course fee.

Currently NORED employs four electricians from RVTC.

On his part, RVTC Manager Kornelius Lukas expressed appreciation for NORED’s contribution to the institution and for having extended the term of industrial attachments from six to 12 months.

“Today marks a new chapter in this partnership journey. RVTC commits to assisting NORED staff members without qualifications through recognition of prior learning. In addition, we have designed new short courses that will assist those who would like to acquire skills and knowledge in a particular field, which will be open to NORED staff at a reasonable fee,” he noted.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency

Youth Activist, Queen Pieter has discouraged learners from bullying one another, citing bullying robs the community of many pupils that ought to be productive but are lost to suicide and not having the self-esteem to achieve their dreams.

Speaking here on Friday during a bullying awareness talk at PK de Villiers Secondary School, Pieter said that learners should create safe places for others at schools because some learners come from homes where domestic violence prevails and schools are supposed to be places to feel safe at and not to be bullied.

“These learners have so much already happening in their lives and now you as a bully you are picking on them, so that builds a lot of emotions in them. It starts with you deciding that you are not to pick on someone that is not your size, let us choose kindness, let us choose to save a life, you do not want to be responsible for someone giving up on life. We should also stop bullying our teachers, we all have roles to play to stop bullying and we have the responsibility too to stop it,” she said.

Also speaking at the event, Pastor Zezito Epifanio from a local church while urging learners and teachers to stop any form of bullying at school and beyond, said the damage done to those bullied does not end at school but in most cases continue into one’s adulthood.

“Bullying does not happen between learners only but teachers also bully learners, and this affects our children badly, someone that was supposed to be a president, a doctor or a productive citizen - if bullied that person can turn into an unproductive citizen because they feel they are worthless. All forms of abuse follows a pattern that if unchecked will only increase over time, break the cycle of bullying today, it starts with you,” he stressed.

Speaking to this news agency Lapakasheya Shapaka an AS level learner who experienced bullying herself implored victims of bullying to stand strong, pray about it and speak up citing that it is important to communicate.

“From my own experience of bullying I was not aware that I was being bullied until I had a sit down with my life skills teacher after attempting to take my own life, it was only then that I realised that it was bullying that led to the build-up of the negative emotions that made me want to take my own life,” she said.

“I myself I was a bully, at first, I didn’t know that I was bullying my friends and all that, we really need to be aware of how bullying occurs for us to recognise because if we do not it will be too late when someone else takes their own life because of what you have said or done,” said Rauha Shikwaya, the deputy head girl at the school.

Similar talks are expected to take place at other schools.

Source: The Namibia Press Agency