Featured – Page 3 – Windhoek Observer

17 Feb

FATF: reforming for compliance, guarding against overreach

Editorial, Featured

The government says we have made measurable progress in addressing the deficiencies identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as we work toward exiting the grey list. That progress is welcome. But as reforms gather pace, we must ensure that compliance strengthens our economy rather than quietly constraining it. Grey listing does not mean our country is corrupt. It signals weaknesses in systems meant to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. For us, a small, open economy dependent on diamonds, uranium, fisheries, tourism and regional trade, reputation matters. International banks and investors pay attention to these signals, sometimes more…

16 Feb

Why Swapo and Namibia need President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah now

Featured, Opinions

Let me address the elephant in the room directly. There is a deafening silence surrounding a matter that is critical to both Swapo and Namibia. Conversations about succession ahead of the 2027 Swapo Congress (C2027) are intensifying, yet they are rarely confronted with the seriousness they deserve. Positioning has begun, camps are quietly consolidating, and speculative debates are increasingly shaping political discourse. As Charles de Gaulle reminds us, sometimes “politics is too important to be left in the hands of politicians.” In moments of strategic consequence, silence becomes complicity. The country and the party cannot afford petty squabbles disguised as…

16 Feb

A necessary line in the sand: protecting public housing and restoring accountability

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

Minister of Works and Transport Veikko Nekundi has taken a decision that many before him have avoided. In stating unequivocally that government employees evicted from state-owned houses will not receive special treatment or automatic relocation, he has drawn a firm line between entitlement and accountability. It is a decision grounded not in hostility, but in principle. At a time when public infrastructure is under strain and housing demand continues to rise, the minister’s stance reflects a necessary commitment to restoring integrity in the management of state assets. The numbers alone underscore the gravity of the matter. Government immovable assets are…

16 Feb

Holistic employee benefits: Building financial security beyond a salary

Featured, Observer Money

Jolene Mans In today’s competitive workplace, employees expect more than just a pay cheque. They seek security, peace of mind and benefits that support their well-being throughout every stage of life. A truly holistic employee benefits package delivers on these expectations by combining retirement savings, risk protection and wellness initiatives into one comprehensive offering. This approach not only enhances employee satisfaction but also strengthens organisational resilience and talent retention. Retirement savings: A foundation for financial independence Retirement funds remain one of the most powerful tools for building long-term wealth and ensuring financial independence after your working years. Beyond simply saving…

13 Feb

YOUNG OBSERVER | #UNMUTED

Featured, Opinions

February has a way of drawing attention toward love, placing it gently at the centre of conversation through symbols that feel both familiar and comforting. Yet beneath the surface of celebration lies a quieter reality shaping the lives of many young people; a season of becoming marked less by certainty than by patience, less by arrival than by unfolding. In such a season, love reveals itself in forms wider than romance alone, appearing in friendship that sustains, in ambition that persists through delay, and in the quiet courage required to keep building a future that cannot yet be clearly seen.…

10 Feb

Beyond candles and speeches: To truly honour our founders

Featured, Opinions

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) February has emerged as a month of reckoning for Namibia, a time heavy with memory, loss, and moral reflection. Within its short span, the nation finds itself repeatedly called to pause, to mourn, and to ask difficult questions about legacy, fidelity, and the meaning of service. One year after the passing of His Excellency Dr Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, the Founding Father of the Namibian Nation, Namibia gathered once again at Heroes’ Acre. Candles were lit. Speeches were delivered. Tributes were read. The nation paused, as it should, to remember the…

10 Feb

Why Namibia’s Constitution Day must matter more than ever

Editorial, Featured

Every year on 9 February, Namibia marks Constitution Day. It is a date that should command national attention, deep reflection and collective pride. Yet too often it passes quietly, almost unnoticed, despite the immense significance it holds in the life of our Republic. On 9 February 1990, just weeks before Independence, the Namibian Constitution was adopted, laying the legal and moral foundation upon which our democracy was built. This year, Constitution Day falls in a month heavy with national grief and remembrance. On 8 February, the nation mourned the passing of its Founding Father and first President, Dr Sam Shafiishuna…

09 Feb

Justine Shiweda did not have to die; not like this

Editorial, Featured

Namibia is mourning, but mourning alone is not enough. The death of Justine Shiweda, a public prosecutor who died from injuries sustained in a brutal, targeted attack, should leave this nation shaken to its moral core. She did not die of illness. She did not die by accident. She died in the line of duty because she dared to do her job. And that should outrage every single one of us. Justine Shiweda did not deserve to die. Not like this. Not violently. Not as a warning. Not as collateral damage in a society that too often shrugs when women…

09 Feb

TURNING POINT | Namibia’s youth debate is asking the wrong question

Featured, Opinions

If Namibia’s challenges could be solved by replacing older leaders with younger ones, the country would already be on a dramatically different trajectory. Youth unemployment would be falling, institutions would be stronger, and public trust would be rising. Instead, the opposite is true. Yet our public discourse increasingly insists that the central problem is generational: that young people are deliberately held back by an older generation unwilling to let go. It is a convenient narrative, simple, emotive, and politically useful. It is also largely misleading. Namibia is a young country by any measure. Roughly 70% of the population is under…

06 Feb

YOUNG OBSERVER | #UNMUTED

Featured, Opinions

In the quiet symmetry of history, February has once again become a month of memory for Namibia. Within days of one another, the nation marked the passing of two towering figures whose lives shaped the moral, political and institutional imagination of our republic: founding president Sam Nujoma and president Hage Geingob. Their departures do not merely signal the end of personal journeys; they summon the nation into reflection about legacy, responsibility, and the unfinished work of freedom. These were not ordinary leaders. They belonged to a generation that carried conviction through exile, negotiation, reconciliation, institution-building, and the long discipline of…