Observer – Page 832 – Windhoek Observer

09 May

Slashing salaries bears watching

ObserverNational NewsCovid-19, Ministry of Labour, salaries

The Ministry of Labour wasted time and energy last month making ridiculous noises about regulations to forbid employers from firing staff. Instead they should have gotten ahead of the curve and provided guidelines when employers slash salaries. Mass salary cuts from a wide range of businesses in all sectors are in the headlines. This is inevitable in these unprecedented, harsh and unclear business times due to the State of Emergency and its backlash. There could be thousands of bankruptcies and business reductions in the wake of this pandemic’s devastation. Hundreds of thousands of employees will be affected in some way.…

08 May

E-learning: an expensive, elusive dream

ObserverNational NewsE-learning, tablets

We applaud the efforts of our decision-makers who are trying their best to carry the country through the COVID-19 crisis. That said, we cannot avoid pointing out that recent comment by the Executive Director of the Ministry of Education that the country was never ready for mass e-learning for all learners, is no surprise at all. Who seriously believed that Namibia could substitute home learning using the internet (in English) for primary and secondary school classroom lessons? We certainly did not. The entire effort was a waste of resources. Is our government actually telling the country that it had no…

08 May

Govt measures won’t save economy -NEF

ObserverObserver MoneyDaan Strauss, Namibia Employers’ Federation (NEF)

Andrew Kathindi The Namibia Employers’ Federation (NEF) says the relief package announced by Social Security Commission (SSC) and the N$8.1 billion Ministry of Finance stimulus package are not enough to rescue the economy and businesses negatively affected by the outbreak of COVID-19 and the lockdown. This comes as the tourism sector, which was meant to benefit from government funding promised by the Ministry of Finance, is yet to receive its allocated N$400 million subsidy. “I think the relief packages announced by Finance and SSC were targeted where the most urgent needs are, and that was for the poorest of the…

08 May

N$220m informal settlements windfall

ObserverObserver MoneyGerman, Government, National Planning Commission, Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia

Staff Writer The German government will contribute over N$220 million towards addressing the country’s informal settlement problem. The funding will be provided under a wider N$700 million grant aimed at improving the living conditions in the country’s sprawling informal settlements. It will also seek to improve access to land title for the residents. “To address the urgent need for action in the informal urban settlements, Germany also committed N$100 million for technical cooperation for sustainable and inclusive urban development as well as N$120 million for financial cooperation (grants) for the promotion of urban infrastructure. These projects are aimed at supporting…

07 May

Ministry cuts funding to private schools

ObserverObserver MoneyMinistry of Education, private schools, Sanet Steenkamp

Andrew Kathindi The Ministry of Education has discontinued funding private schools after discovering it was not uniformly done. Education ministry executive director Sanet Steenkamp said the ministry put a stop to funding after discovering that certain conditions for funding, such as providing scholarships for 10 percent of its enrollment to vulnerable children, was not being met. Some private schools were also heavily reliant on the subsidy and could not prove that they were self-reliant. N$87 million per annum was dispersed to private schools in the past. Steenkamp said that while the economic downturn of the last three years has also…

07 May

Nampol welcomes alcohol ban

ObserverObserver Moneyalcohol, Deputy-Commissioner, Kauna Shikwambi, NAMPOL, NAMPOL Spokesperson

Staff Writer The Namibian Police Force (NAMPOL) has welcomed the newly amended government regulations which have imposed a total ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages during the on-going lockdown, reversing earlier regulations which had allowed alcohol with a content below 3 percent to be sold. Under the new gazetted regulations, liquor is now defined as any spirits, wine, beer, cider or other beverage containing alcohol intended for human consumption, excluding alcohol intended to be used for medicinal purposes. “The amended regulations make it easier for us to enforce the lockdown and we are glad the leaders heeded to our…

07 May

We were ill-prepared – Steenkamp

ObserverObserver MoneyArts and Culture Executive Director, Covid-19, Ministry of Education, Sanet Steenkamp

Andrew Kathindi The Ministry of Education has admitted that it was ill prepared to implement the online education demands brought about by the coronavirus outbreak. This comes as student learning was brought to a grinding halt countrywide due to the government’s decision to close schools to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The ministry has been battling to restart classes through e-learning. “I must admit, we were so caught on addressing text book needs, but COVID-19 gave us the opportunity to modernize and to find alternative teaching and learning modalities. We are entering into deep discussions with the Commonwealth…

07 May

Southern Africa: rethinking the media sustainability models in the post-COVID-19

ObserverUncategorisedCovid-19, media, Southern Africa

Admire Mare As the world is ceased with trying to find a lasting solution against the deadly coronavirus (code-named COVID-19), the media industry in particular has been negatively affected by the state of disaster (emergence) and locked down measures put in place by governments across the globe. All of sudden the oxygen of the [print] media industry, which includes advertising, events and newspaper sales, have been extinguished. Some corporates have moved in quickly to suspend or even terminate their advertising contracts during the lockdown period. Others have had to move their adverts to platform companies and online newspapers in anticipation…

07 May

Find your #newnormal before it finds you

ObserverNational News

Don’t deny the reality that everything is changing. Accept that your world post-COVID-19 will be the same as before the pandemic. Other than the banks, all economic sectors and households are taking a beating. And Government cannot save each of us. We must plan to save ourselves. The world as we all knew it is gone. If you are middle class, prepare for the lower middle class or worse. If you were living pay check to pay check, you are in big trouble. If the cash lenders own your pay check and it is not coming any more, you are…

06 May

Tourism sector forecasts N$20 billion loss

ObserverObserver MoneyCovid-19, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta, Minister of Environment, tourism

. . . as government continues to delay N$400m subsidy Andrew Kathindi Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta has said that the tourism sector could lose at least N$20 billion in anticipated revenues and fixed assets by the end of 2020 due to the global lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Namibia has received no inbound tourists since international borders of all countries were virtually closed to combat the spread of COVID-19. The Minister has told the Windhoek Observer that he believes that it is most likely that the tourism sector in Namibia will pick up only after…