Opinions

Harold Bolla Akwenye The City of Windhoek would like to assure its residents and the broader public that our tap water is not only safe for consumption but is also ranked among the safest and most advanced in Africa—if not globally. Windhoek has long been a pioneer in sustainable water management, standing tall as the first city in the world to implement Direct Potable Reuse (DPR)—a highly advanced process where treated wastewater is directly returned to the drinking water network. Today, the Windhoek Goreangab Operating Company (WINGOC), which oversees the city’s state-of-the-art purification facility, continues to set global benchmarks in…

Kae Matundu Tjiparuro I have purposefully titled this tribute to Rikondja Ben Karamata The Quintessential Intellectual. Because despite having been many different things to me during what I would say have been a short sojourn that I have been and come to be and know him, more than a good time, and indeed it has been a good time of knowing him. A good time while to many and most may have seemed like a time of socializing, it has been for me more a time of fertilising off his rich intellectual proclivities.  During the time I have had the…

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) INTRODUCTION Chinua Achebe's poignant observation from 1983, "The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership," resonates with disquieting accuracy within the contemporary Namibian landscape. This enduring warning compels a critical introspection: for how long shall we, as a nation, tacitly endorse the insidious erosion of ethical standards and the systemic decay of institutions, as if such maladies were an ineluctable destiny? How long will the proverb "the goat eats where it’s tied" serve as a convenient justification for pervasive malfeasance, rather than a stark indictment of…

Filleppuss George Ampweya  Namibia’s workers face a growing trend that Trade unions and employees alike must scrutinise carefully: the rise of the so-called ’Voluntary Separation Scheme”. At face value, these schemes appear fair and harmless as they offer employees a “choice” to leave employment on mutual grounds, often with a separation package that seems better than statutory retrenchment pay-outs. But beneath this façade lies a practice that, if misused, can directly undermine the very principles of fairness, transparency, and collective bargaining process that the Labour Act, 11 of 2007 enshrines for any employer considering job cuts for economic reasons. Section…

Joshua Razikua Kaumbi At the time of paying tribute to Immanuel Ngatjizeko my article was dedicated to Philip Keripuu Tjerije – a live tribute.  Well, now Philip Keripuu Tjerije has died. I would always call him Comrade Senior as I would pose the same question as to whether Swapo in Omaruru would die with them. Philip Tjerije a second of seven children was born 13 June 1947 in Otjihinaparero and grew up in Omaruru, in that street that came all the way from town, a street of one big family. Our street connected separate worlds without irony. He died on…