Featured – Windhoek Observer

25 Nov

Silence is complicity

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

The Windhoek Observer has watched Namibian elections for decades. We have seen the rise and fall of political giants, the birth of new movements, and the ever-shifting theatre of campaign rhetoric. But every so often, something happens that forces us to pause, not because it is surprising, but precisely because it is not. It is depressingly familiar. It is predictable. And it is dangerous. This week, reports emerged from Keetmanshoop that Landless People’s Movement leader Bernadus Swartbooi and independent candidate Vernon Coleman became entangled in a confrontation that escalated into physical violence. What began, as these things often do, with…

25 Nov

The case for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health education

Featured, Opinions

Frieda Stefanus In today’s world, access to accurate and timely health information can mean the difference between thriving and surviving. Nowhere is this more urgent than in the realm of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), particularly for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). Without comprehensive education and youth-friendly services, young people face heightened vulnerability to unintended pregnancies, HIV infection, Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), and gender-based violence (GBV). Knowledge is power and protection SRH education equips AGYW with the tools to recognise and reduce health risks. When young people understand how HIV is transmitted, how to access prevention tools like Pre-Exposure…

24 Nov

OBSERVER DAILY | A nation decides: Local elections to signal public confidence in NNN

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

As Namibia approaches the regional and local authority elections on 26 November, the nation finds itself at a critical democratic crossroads. These elections, often overshadowed by the glamour and political theatre of general elections, carry an undeniable weight. They are, in many ways, the most intimate reflection of the people’s voice. This is where political rhetoric meets the hard reality of service delivery; where promises collide with potholes, housing backlogs, sanitation failures, and bread-and-butter governance. What makes this year’s elections particularly consequential is the timing. We are only nine months into the Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah administration. For a presidency still defining…

24 Nov

TURNING POINT | Banking while black: A reflection on power, ownership and the financial future we must build

Featured, Opinions

My recent conversation with a close Afrikaner friend left me sitting with a question that is as uncomfortable as it is necessary. While discussing business and finance, he looked at me, without malice, yet with the kind of bluntness that forces self-reflection, and asked, “Why is it that you black people are not able to start, maintain, and manage a successful black-owned bank? How long are you going to blame us Boers for lack of financing?” The question struck me not because it was racist, but because it touched the uneasy space between the ambitions of black Namibians and the…

24 Nov

Dealers of hope: Eleven years on the road of struggle and faith

Featured, Opinions

George Hidipo Hamba Kambala It has been eleven years since we gathered in Klein Windhoek to make a stand. We were young, restless and determined to be heard. We had no money, no power and no certainty about what the next hour would bring. All we had was conviction. We believed that the land question, and the exclusion of young people from decision-making, could no longer be ignored. That morning was not just a protest. It was a promise. It was the first loud beat in a drum that has never stopped. It was the beginning of what the country…

24 Nov

A just energy transition for Namibia (Part One)

Featured, Opinions

Eline van der Linden The world talks about the need for a Just Energy Transition (JET). What could or should JET look like in Namibia? I work in the Green Hydrogen (GH2) and Green Industrialisation space. Oftentimes, I am asked by journalists and representatives from civil society organisations how it can be “just and fair” to export a source of energy when 50% of Namibians have no connection to the electricity grid. It is a fair question that has a reasonably simple answer. Not all energy sources are suited for the power grid, and access to electricity is more closely…

23 Nov

OBSERVER DAILY | Stand Up for South Africa

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

South Africa has, for decades, carried burdens on behalf of this continent, some loudly acknowledged, many quietly ignored. From peacekeeping in Lesotho and the DRC, to economic stabilisation efforts across SADC, to being the single most consistent African voice in global forums where our collective interests are too often dismissed, diluted, or deliberately sidelined, South Africa has been the indispensable anchor of our region. And yet, when that anchor is shaken, Africa goes silent. Over the past months, President Cyril Ramaphosa has endured a series of undiplomatic and thinly veiled confrontations from the United States, first the ambush at the…

21 Nov

OBSERVER DAILY | Dear Honourable Bernadus Swartbooi

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

Namibia has entered the familiar, feverish stretch of the political calendar known as the “silly season”, when passions run high, rhetoric grows sharp, and politicians of all stripes test the limits of what they can say to energise their supporters. Elections are, by their very nature, noisy affairs. Positions clash, words fly, and agendas jostle for prominence. In that sense, your recent remarks about wishing for an “actual shooting war” to start in Namibia, and your call for foreign intervention from U.S. president Donald Trump, may be chalked up by some as campaign theatrics. But even in the silly season,…

21 Nov

The velvet grip of power: Why Namibians must stay vigilant as election day approaches

Featured, Opinions

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) As Namibians prepare for the Regional and Local Authority Elections on 26 November 2025, a recent political confrontation in Europe has unexpectedly offered a mirror to our own democratic landscape. It came from a Dutch member of the European Parliament, who boldly challenged European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, reminding the world that even in the heart of Western democracy, power can slip quietly beyond the reach of the people. Her argument was unsettling yet essential: are we really being governed democratically, or merely invited to participate in a…

21 Nov

YOUNG OBSERVER | A purple signal in a moment of global decision making

Featured, Opinions

As G20 leaders gather to negotiate the future of global growth, security and cooperation, the world outside the summit walls is speaking a language they can no longer ignore, and that language has taken on a colour: purple. The Purple Hearts Movement is a political symbol that has spread across digital platforms and even public spaces in the form of protests, drawing attention to one of the most persistent governance failures of our time: gender-based violence against women. The symbolism is deceptively simple: purple hearts shared online, purple profile images, and purple clothing worn at vigils and protests. Yet beneath…