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Patience Makwele Young people in rural communities want access to land and support to start businesses, saying they should not have to leave their homes to find opportunities elsewhere. Their concerns follow President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s call for traditional authorities to make communal land available for agricultural ventures and ecotourism. Speaking at the 45th annual Lusata Cultural Festival at Chinchimane in the Zambezi Region on Sunday, young entrepreneurs said the president’s remarks offered hope, but stressed that turning such opportunities into reality would require more than promises. Gift Limbo, a broiler chicken entrepreneur, said many young people have business ideas but…

Patience Makwele Namibians are being encouraged to get more books into the hands of children, as BookSprint Namibia adds four locally produced titles to its growing collection of children’s reading material. The call was made by German-Iranian author and BookSprint Namibia organising committee member Nasrin Siege, who said access to books can influence how children learn and understand the world around them. “Through books, children learn to recognise and understand the world in which they are growing up. Children who have access to books achieve better learning outcomes than those without books. That is precisely why we established this initiative,”…

Windhoek’s street-vending crisis demands compassion, but compassion cannot mean abandoning the rules There is something deeply uncomfortable about the stories emerging from Windhoek’s streets. On one side are ordinary Namibians trying to survive. They sell fruit, vegetables, cooked food, clothing, household goods and countless other items because the formal economy has not provided them with sufficient opportunities. For many, vending is not a lifestyle choice. It is the difference between putting food on the table and going hungry. On the other side is a city struggling to maintain order as informal trading increasingly spills onto sidewalks, road reserves, intersections, business…

Namibia has acquired thousands of hectares at considerable public cost. The harder question is what happens after the land changes hands. Namibia’s land question has never been simply about hectares. It is about history, justice, dignity, economic opportunity and the unresolved consequences of a deeply unequal system of land ownership. It is also about something much more practical: whether Namibia can build a productive agricultural economy capable of feeding its people, creating jobs and sustaining rural communities. That is why the questions raised in the National Assembly this week deserve considerably more attention than the parliamentary debate over the appointment…

Staff Writer Zimbabwean businessman Wicknell Chivayo, who was speculated to have been awarded the tender to print ballots for Namibia’s 2024 presidential election, has reportedly died in a helicopter crash in rural Marondera this evening. According to reports from various Zimbabwean media sources, Chivayo and his wife, Lucy Muteke, died in the crash. The family reportedly confirmed the deaths through family spokesperson Herbert Chivayo, who said the family was at a loss for words following the tragedy. Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi also reportedly confirmed the helicopter crash and said six people were aboard the aircraft. Chivayo had…

There are moments when a country is tested not by the size of the problem before it, but by the quality of its response to that problem. Namibia has reached one of those moments. The confirmation of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the country’s internationally recognised FMD-free zone is not simply another veterinary announcement. It is an economic warning, a livelihood warning and, ultimately, a test of leadership. On 23 September, acting minister of agriculture, fisheries, water and land reform Charles Mubita released a statement that FMD had been detected at a commercial farm in the Karasburg State Veterinary District in…

There was a time when Namibia mattered enormously to the United Nations. Not because we were a large country. Not because we possessed great military or economic power. Not because we had a population large enough to command attention. We mattered because our very existence as an independent nation had become an international question. For decades, the question of Namibia was debated in the corridors of the United Nations. The country’s liberation struggle became intertwined with the international campaign against colonialism and apartheid. The UN General Assembly recognised SWAPO in 1976 as the “sole and authentic representative” of the Namibian…

Thirty-five years after independence, perhaps Namibia needs to have the conversation we have avoided What is in a name? Shakespeare’s famous question was asked in an entirely different context, but it has extraordinary relevance to Namibia. Because names are rarely just names. They tell us who was here. They tell us who exercised power. They tell us whose language was considered important enough to appear on a map. They tell us whose history was remembered and whose history was pushed into the background. And sometimes, changing a name is an act of remembering. Thirty-five years after independence, perhaps Namibia should…

Patience Makwele  Young Namibians are turning artificial intelligence (AI) skills into income by developing websites, creating digital solutions for businesses and offering AI training and consulting services. For some young entrepreneurs, the technology is also lowering the barrier to entering the tech industry, with AI-powered tools helping them develop solutions without years of traditional coding experience. Gotlieb Mupandela, founder and chief executive officer of Apnium Technology, started his own company at the age of 16 after looking for ways to make money. Mupandela said AI-assisted coding tools have since helped him develop software and work on products aimed at solving…

Patience Makwele Members of the United Nations (UN) Namibia youth advisory group have warnedagainst treating entrepreneurship as a one-size-fits-all solution to youthunemployment, saying young people face different financial, skills and industrybarriers when trying to create their own jobs.The warning came in Windhoek on Wednesday as youth unemployment remainsa major challenge, with a 2026 Namibia Country Impact Assessment estimatingyouth unemployment at about 46%. Micky Kaapama, a member of the UN Namibia youth advisory group, saidentrepreneurship can create opportunities but cannot be presented as an optionthat works equally for everyone. “Creating jobs is not a one-size-fits-all solution,” Kaapama said.She said young people…