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Niël Terblanché In a desperate effort to mitigate the harsh impacts of the ongoing drought, representatives from the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU), the Namibia National Farmers' Union (NNFU), and the Namibian Emerging Commercial Farmers Union (NECFU) convened with Calle Schlettwein, the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, on Thursday. The unions' visit was aimed at discussing a set of proposed emergency measures to address the drought conditions worsening in certain areas of Namibia, despite recent rains. The key proposals put forth during the meeting encompassed a wide range of initiatives intended to alleviate the drought's socio-economic effects on both…

Martin Endjala Namibia and China reaffirmed their military collaboration on Tuesday to share expertise and strengthen peaceful development. This was done during the change in command of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLAC), which saw the departure of Colonel Gao Peng, the defence attaché of China to Namibia. Colonel Li Shujun will replace Peng. Brigadier General Natanael Ngolo, the chief of the Defence Intelligence Directorate of the Namibian Defence Force (NDF), welcomed Shujun to Namibia. Ngolo added that the working relations between the PLAC and the NDF serve as a solid foundation for exploring areas of common interest and…

Niël Terblanché The completion of the mandated SIM card registration exercise, as directed by the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN), has left thousands of mobile phone users temporarily disconnected from network services. This follows the March 31st deadline, which marked the end of an extensive campaign aimed at enhancing security and customer verification processes within the country's telecommunications sector. Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), Namibia's largest mobile operator, reported a registration compliance rate of 83.3 percent, having successfully registered 1,613,893 SIM cards. However, 323,236 users failed to meet the deadline, rendering their SIM cards suspended, but not deactivated, pending compliance.…

Martin Endjala The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) has recorded an increase in its asset value of N$151 billion for the 2023 financial year, compared to N$147 billion recorded in 2022. GIPF’s Chief Executive Officer, Martin Inkumbi announced this during the launch of the integrated annual report year ended 31 March 2023. Inkumbi said the Fund’s investment return has increased by 7.7 percent to N$6.5 billion, compared to an increase of 10.8 percent (N$11.6 billion) in the prior year. Adding that the increase is attributed mainly to favourable investment returns during the period under review. The Fund has N$110 billion…

Hertta-Maria Amutenja The recently released Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Annual Report for the 2022/2023 financial year reveals a significant surge in corruption cases compared to the previous year. At the same time, the report also revealed that several investigations into cases of corruption are still incomplete. During the financial year under review, a total of 142 cases were registered with the ACC, marking a notable increase of 32 cases from the preceding year. Of these, 66 cases were investigated, while 67 were declined due to reasons such as lack of substance, vague information, or unfounded allegations. Additionally, nine cases were referred…