Opinions

Fransina Kahungu On International Women’s Day, 8 March 2026, we are intentionally choosing to move beyond celebration without empowerment and confront a deeper question: how do empowered women empower others? This year’s theme is Give to gain. It has often been said that women do not help other women rise once they themselves have risen. Whether this has merit or not is yet to be properly studied. However, one might confidently state that real power is influence over policy. It is the ability to shape women and not just symbolise change. It is the ability to look back and say…

Staff Writer Bank Windhoek has reaffirmed its commitment to Namibia’s financial modernisation agenda following its participation in a high-level engagement on the rollout of Government-to-Person (G2P) payments under the national Instant Payment Programme (IPP). The meeting brought together minister of finance Ericah Shafudah, Bank of Namibia governor Ebson Uanguta, deputy governor Leonie Dunn, Bank Windhoek managing director James Chapman and other industry participants forming part of the first cohort implementing the IPP. Discussions focused on alignment, operational readiness and progress on the G2P digital payments rollout through Instant Payments Namibia (IPN), the entity established to operationalise the country’s instant payment…

Paul T. Shipale (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) “If the truth is not faced head on, the lie will not disappear. It will destroy everything.” In the short story The Suit (1963) by Can Themba, a betrayal is symbolised by an object left in plain sight. No one confronts it. No one removes it. It remains in the room silent, heavy, and corrosive until it destroys the household. Today, the international order feels like that room. A narrative sits at the centre of global politics: that powerful states act primarily in defence of freedom, stability, and global security…

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro A lifetime of 85 years was literally reduced to 30 minutes in Namibia during which Namibia, including President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, last Thursday, paid homage and tribute to civil rights leader, the late Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson. A tribute that had all signs of a hurried job and thus was reluctantly hosted. Worst of all and ironically but not strangely, late Jackson’s life was reduced by the United States of America's (USA) ambassador to Windhoek to a mere two minutes or so. Perhaps a reflection of the reality that few of his contemporaries are now around, especially in Namibia,…

Paul T. Shipale (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) Namibia has just paid off the largest external debt obligation in its history. Yet today, it spends more than twice as much on interest payments as it does on development. That is not a crisis. It is a crossroads. When Finance Minister Ericah Shafudah tabled the N$104 billion 2026/27 national budget, she did not promise miracles. She promised stability. The deficit narrows from 6.6% to 5.5% of GDP. Public debt, projected at 65.2% of GDP, is expected to stabilise and gradually decline. There are no reckless giveaways, no fiscal fireworks,…