Featured – Windhoek Observer

02 Apr

OBSERVER COASTAL | Search for teen who vanished into the sea continues

Featured, National News

Renthia Kaimbi Search teams are looking for a teenage boy who went missing after jumping into the sea at the Swakopmund Jetty on Tuesday afternoon. The incident was reported on Tuesday at about 15h00. Police said the boy, believed to be between 17 and 18 years old, entered the water under unclear circumstances. Erongo police spokesperson Judith Shomungula said officers responded after receiving information from a witness. At the scene, police spoke to a woman who said she had greeted the boy shortly before the incident. She described him as dark in complexion, wearing grey school-like trousers and a grey…

02 Apr

OBSERVER COASTAL | New Erongo Red board promises accountability

Featured, National News

Renthia Kaimbi A new board at Erongo Red has committed to focusing on leadership, accountability and affordable electricity services across the region. The board was inaugurated on Tuesday at the company’s headquarters in Walvis Bay, with all directors appointed by shareholders in attendance. Erongo Red chief executive officer Immanuel !Hanabeb briefed the new board on the company’s operations, strategy, financial performance and governance responsibilities. He also outlined the role of directors before handing over governance documents. The board then elected its leadership. Johnny Johnson Doëseb was elected chairperson, with Ismael Kalipi as deputy chairperson. Selma Shaanika will chair the audit…

01 Apr

IMF says it again, but Namibia has heard it before

Editorial, Featured

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has once again turned its attention to Namibia, urging the government to tighten spending, rein in debt, and accelerate structural reforms to support economic recovery. These recommendations, delivered with the authority of a global financial watchdog, are not unfamiliar. In fact, they echo a familiar script the IMF has delivered across much of the developing world for decades. While such advice is often grounded in sound macroeconomic theory, Namibia would be wise to approach it with a measured degree of caution, and, more importantly, with confidence in its own homegrown expertise. To understand why caution…

30 Mar

TURNING POINT | The audacity of big dreams

Featured, Opinions

There is a quiet but persistent frustration that sits with many Namibian entrepreneurs: the sense that we have normalised small thinking in a country that requires bold imagination. A recent conversation with a colleague left me unsettled. He argued that Namibia’s last truly “big idea” was independence itself and that since then, our national trajectory has been defined more by incrementalism than ambition. Whether one agrees fully or not, the question is unavoidable: can a nation progress without a culture of audacious thinking? The evidence suggests otherwise. Nations that have transformed themselves did not do so by solving problems in…

26 Mar

Expensive lessons: Why populism and inexperience don’t mix in public health

Editorial, Featured

The re-emergence of intermediaries in the procurement of medicines by the Health Ministry is not just an administrative adjustment; it is a sobering indictment of how policy, when driven by rhetoric rather than rigour, can backfire with real consequences for ordinary citizens. Reports that some medicines are now costing up to five times more, coupled with widening supply gaps and shortages in hospitals, should concern every Namibian. More importantly, it demands a frank reflection on how we arrived at this point. At the heart of the matter lies a familiar but dangerous pattern: the preference for performative, dramatic gestures over…

23 Mar

TURNING POINT | Decentralising Independence: A Missed Timing, Not a Missed Opportunity

Featured, Opinions

This year’s decision by the Namibian government to host Independence Day celebrations across all 14 regions marks a notable and commendable shift in national thinking. For 36 years, the symbolic centre of our independence has largely remained fixed in Windhoek, politically convenient, administratively efficient, but economically narrow in its reach. By extending into every region, government has, perhaps unintentionally, offered a practical demonstration of what a decentralised economic model could look like. It is, in principle, an excellent idea. Yet, like many well-intentioned policy shifts in developing economies, its impact has been diluted by one critical flaw: timing. Announcing such…

23 Mar

Midnight symbolism, misplaced outrage

Editorial, Featured

There are moments in a nation’s life that transcend politics, moments rooted not in expediency but in memory, symbolism and shared identity. Namibia’s Independence Day is one such moment. Yet, in a disappointing display of political opportunism, critics, led by Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) president Panduleni Itula, have chosen to reduce a profoundly symbolic decision by President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to a shallow and cynical debate about timing and visibility. The outrage is not only misplaced; it is revealing. At the heart of this controversy is the president’s decision to deliver her Independence Day address at midnight on 21 March…

19 Mar

OBSERVER COASTAL | Emergency exercise confuses Walvis Bay motorists

Featured, National News

Renthia Kaimbi Motorists in Walvis Bay were left alarmed on Tuesday morning after what appeared to be a serious multi-vehicle accident at a busy intersection. The scene showed a damaged truck, a passenger bus, injured people and orange smoke. It was later confirmed to be an unannounced emergency drill. The exercise took place near the Manica Group Namibia head office and Namport offices. The simulation involved a truck carrying bagged chemicals colliding with a passenger bus. One victim lay on the road, another was exposed to a simulated chemical spill and the truck driver was trapped inside the vehicle. Orange…

18 Mar

N$33 billion power play: Namibia’s solar gamble must deliver for the people

Editorial, Featured

Namibia’s plan to invest roughly N$33 billion into expanding electricity access and generation is not just welcome news; it is long overdue. For a country blessed with abundant sunshine, vast open land, and a growing need for reliable energy, this commitment signals a potentially transformative shift in how Namibia powers its future. At its core, this programme recognises a simple truth: energy is the backbone of development. Without reliable, affordable electricity, economic growth stalls, industries struggle to compete, and households remain locked out of opportunities that many around the world take for granted. For too long, Namibia has lived with…

16 Mar

TURNING POINT | The Case for Ownership: From Observers to Participants

Featured, Opinions

The recent decision by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to off-load its 10% shareholding in Rössing Uranium Mine presented Namibia with a rare and consequential opportunity. Such moments, when ownership of strategic national assets becomes available, are not merely commercial transactions. They are moments that test a nation’s economic ambition, its confidence in local enterprise, and its commitment to building indigenous participation in key sectors of the economy. Yet, as far as can be determined, few Namibian companies and not even the Namibian government stepped forward to bid for this stake when the opportunity arose through public bidding. When our company decided…