Observer – Page 609 – Windhoek Observer

14 Oct

Etosha National Park on fire since Monday

ObserverObserver MoneyEtosha National Park, Ministry of Environment, Tourism and Forestry

Eba Kandovazu A FIRE that started on a neighboring farm near Okaukuejo in the Etosha National Park since this Monday is still raging on, although staff members from the Ministry of Environment, Tourism and Forestry have been dispatched to contain it. Romeo Muyunda, Spokesperson of the ministry, says the fire is burning west of Okaukuejo. It’s cause, he says is not known yet although it entered the park on Monday, from a farm. No animals have been reported dead as a result of the fire yet. Namibia has seen the prevalence of fires in recent months. Just last weekend, two…

14 Oct

Limkokwing drama takes a new twist

ObserverObserver MoneyDavid Namwandi, Hilya Nghiwete, Limkokwing University

Eba Kandovazu NEW information is being revealed that in fact, the lead masterminds in the establishment of a Malaysian university in Namibia is not Higher Education, Training and Innovation Minister, Itah Kandjii-Murangi, but her predecessor, David Namwandi, and the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF), Hilya Nghiwete. An anonymous document released on social media chronicles a number of engagements between Namwandi and the said university. It also alleges that Nghiwete sent students to study in Malaysia. The letter also accuses the former CEO of granting scholarships to some of her family members. It…

13 Oct

Namibia reports 15.3 percent reduction in TB cases

ObserverObserver MoneyTB

Tujoromajo Kasuto THE country has reported a steady decrease in the number of TB cases in 2020 when the total number of tuberculosis (TB) cases reported was 6,537. This was a significant reduction of 15.3% from the 7718 TB cases notified in 2019. This is revealed in an Epidemiology of TB in Namibia, issued by Executive Director (ED) of the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS), Ben Nangombe. The case notification rate (CNR) in 2020, based on the burden of all forms of active TB, also decreased to 263 cases per 100,000 populations, from 314 per 100,000 in 2019.…

13 Oct

Nust to open campus in Ohangwena next year

ObserverObserver MoneyEenhana, Eenhana Vocational Training Centre (EVTC), Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Ohangwena

Eba Kandovazu AS of next year, Namibians wanting to further their studies at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (Nust) will no longer have to worry about traveling hundreds of kilometres to Windhoek if they do not wish to do so, as the university aims to establish a satellite campus in the town of Eenhana, Ohangwena next year. The campus will open its doors in the next academic year with an assortment of programmes, with particular focus on Rural Development, Natural Resources Management, Agriculture as well as Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET). The university will reportedly temporarily make…

13 Oct

Shutitdown movement organiser accused of embezzling award money

ObserverObserver MoneyShutItDown

Eba Kandovazu ONE of the prominent figures of the recently established gnti-Gender based violence movement, ShutItDown, is accused of embezzling close to N$100 000, which the movement received from the African Union Youth Envoy in February this year for the Silencing Gender-based Violence Award. Lebbeus Hashikutuva was making rounds on social media yesterday when the allegations surfaced. No criminal charges have been laid against Hashikutuva, although the movement issued a statement expressing its “deepest sympathy to everyone affected” by the incident, which they describe as “unfortunate” and “nauseating”. “We had all hoped to use the funds to truly enact change…

13 Oct

Ohangwena man denied bail after brutally stabbing girlfriend

ObserverObserver MoneyMagistrate Court, Ohangwena

Tujoromajo Kasuto An Ohangwena man was today denied bail in the Magistrate Court after appearing on charges of attempted murder after he stabbed his girlfriend in various parts of the body, on Friday at the Omatunda village. According to Ohangwena Crime Investigator, Commissioner Zacharia Amakali, the girlfriend has been admitted in the Katutura State Hospital and is in a critical condition after sustaining stab wounds in the arms, right eye, breast, abdomen and right arm broken, with the knife stuck in her head. Amakali says it is unknown what exactly happened other than, “boyfriend and girlfriend things”. Meantime an inquest…

11 Oct

Ovaherero, Ovambanderu remember 117 years since issuance of extermination order

ObserverObserver MoneyOvaherero, Ovambanderu

Staff Writer Those who attended this year’s 117th commemoration of the October 2, 1904 extermination order against the Ovaherero by then Imperial Germany’s army commander, Lothar von Trotha, in the then German South West Africa, as Namibia was previously known, saw a really somber and solemn occasion. Ovaherero and Ovambanderu women, as it would behooves their culture on the occasion of also the tenth anniversary of the return of the first consignment of human remains, to typify the solemnity and somberness of the commemoration at Ozombuzovindimba in the Otjinene Constituency, where the order was issued, held a vigil in the…

11 Oct

Landmark judgment on gay marriage, citizenship reserved

ObserverObserver MoneyBisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Queer and Intersex(LGBTQI), Transexual

Eba Kandovazu IN WHAT is purported to be a landmark case in the fight for equal rights for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, Queer and Intersex(LGBTQI), the Supreme Court today reserved judgment, which would possibly grant citizenship by- domicile to a Gay Mexican man, married to a Namibian man. Eduardo Castaneda, married to Namibian, Phillip Luehl, approached the Supreme Court to challenge the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration’s refusal to grant him domicile status. A full bench consisting of Chief Justice Peter Shivute, Deputy Judge President Petrus Damaseb, and Dave Smuts today heard the oral arguments and closing remarks…

11 Oct

Farmer confesses to poisoning lions for killing seven of his goats

ObserverObserver MoneyMinistry of Environment, Romeo Muyunda, Tourism and Forestry

Eba Kandovazu THE discovery of four lion and two hyena carcasses last weekend has led to the arrest of a 50-year-old man, who police say confessed to the poisoning of the animals. Preliminary investigations found that the lions and hyenas killed the suspect's seven goats before they were trapped and poisoned. Kunene Commander, Commissioner James Nderura, says a second suspect is yet to be arrested, adding that the four collared lions killed were worth N$260 000. The suspect, who cannot be named until he appears in the Opuwo Magistrate's Court tomorrow, reportedly confessed to the poisoning. Ministry of Environment, Tourism…

09 Oct

Could the SPD be the silver lining to the dark cloud of reparations?

ObserverUncategorisedSwapo Party of Namibia

Can the descendants of the survivors of German onslaught inflicted on the Nama, Ovambanderu and Ovaherero, culminating in extermination orders against them and their Genocide between 1904 and 1908 expect anything from the recently concluded German polls? This is the foremost question on the lips and reflections of most Genocide descendants, and indeed bevooves them to pose and ponder such a question. With the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Socialist Union (CSU), the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FPD) emerging the four front runners. And horse trading already underway to see likely government coalition. Ala…