Opinions – Page 12 – Windhoek Observer

05 Sep

OBSERVER DAILY | GIPF-backed home loans: Hope or hidden risk?

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

For many Namibians, home ownership remains more of a dream than a reality. The numbers are sobering: a housing backlog of 300,000 units, more than 200,000 shacks in Windhoek alone, and an average three-bedroom house in the capital costing around N$1.2 million. Against this backdrop, the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) has launched its Pension-Backed Home Loan Scheme (PBHLS), which will take effect next January. The scheme allows civil servants and other GIPF members to use up to one-third of their pension savings as collateral for a home loan. On paper, it promises cheaper financing, easier access, and the dignity…

05 Sep

Is a national airline really a development pillar?

Opinions

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro Air Namibia ceased operations and was liquidated in 2021. The Namibian government decided to shut it down as a last resort given the substantial financial burden on the state. Thus, Namibia currently lacks a national flag carrier, for better or worse. For better or worse. For better with its demise having been a good riddance for releasing much-needed resources for other priorities rather than investing such in a bottomless hole as it seemed. Although given the kleptomaniac culture that has for long now been engulfing and gripping the country extensively, firmly and systemic, there’s no certainty if indeed…

05 Sep

The interplay of economic diplomacy and conventional diplomacy: the case of Angola and Namibia’s bilateral & multilateral trade agreements

Opinions

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) Abstract With the Inter-Africa Trade Fair (IATF) taking place in Algiers this September under the theme “a gateway to new opportunities” underpinned by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), this article follows in the footsteps of the article on 30 August 2025 that appeared in this newspaper under the title “Diplomacy or Trade: Where is the centre of gravity? In that article, it is said that today’s ambassadors are called upon to transcend traditional confines and embrace their paramount role as Namibia’s chief economic architects and frontline salespeople in…

04 Sep

Voting at sixteen risks exploiting the youth

Featured, Opinions

Hidipo Hamata Over the past weeks, Namibians have witnessed the tabling of a motion in the National Assembly proposing that the voting age in Namibia be reduced from eighteen to sixteen years. On the surface, the idea may appear to be progressive, perhaps even inclusive, as it purports to recognise the voices of our younger generation. However, a deeper interrogation of this matter reveals far more complex constitutional, developmental, social, and political implications which we must not overlook for the sake of political expedience. The Namibian Constitution, as our supreme law, is the foundation upon which we build our democracy.…

04 Sep

OBSERVER DAILY | Sergeant Eustance Simasiku Matongo: a life of service, cut short

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

On Wednesday night, Namibia lost not just a police officer but a son of the soil, a protector, and a man whose devotion to duty shone through even in his final moments. Sergeant Eustance Simasiku Matongo, aged only 34, was gunned down in Walvis Bay while responding to an armed robbery. His death is a painful reminder of the risks our men and women in uniform face every single day, often with little appreciation, and sometimes with outright hostility from the very society they serve. The weight carried by police officers The Namibian Police Force, like many across the world,…

03 Sep

Are honorary PhDs in Namibia sending the right message?

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

Allexer Namundjembo Namibia has seen a growing trend of awarding honorary doctorates to sitting politicians and high-ranking officials. While intended to recognise public service, we must ask: are we equating political office with academic achievement? Honorary degrees should celebrate exceptional contributions to society or scholarship. When they are routinely given to presidents or ministers without evident academic work, the value of higher education risks being diluted. Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu reminds us: “Education is not just about knowledge. It is a means of establishing legitimacy and authority. When credentials are given without the corresponding effort, the social value of education is…

03 Sep

OBSERVER DAILY | Financial inclusion: Namibia’s next liberation struggle

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

Namibia this week hosts the inaugural Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Global Policy Forum. James Chapman, managing director of Bank Windhoek, has marked the moment with an essay celebrating his bank’s role in expanding access: rural branches, cellphone banking, local-language ATMs, digital apps, and fee-free accounts. These steps are commendable. But Namibia cannot afford to confuse corporate milestones with national transformation. Financial inclusion is not a marketing slogan; it is a matter of economic justice. And justice, if it is to mean anything, must be enforced through political will, not polished through corporate press releases. The ghosts of exclusion Before…

02 Sep

OBSERVER DAILY | 552 learners, 12 trees, 0 Classrooms: Minister Steenkamp, where is the plan?

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

This past week, Namibians were once again confronted with an image that should never have existed 35 years after independence: children sitting under trees, trying to learn. The scene was Ndama East Primary School in Kavango East, where 552 learners, yes, five hundred and fifty-two children, are being taught under the shade of trees. Each tree is a “classroom”. There are more than twelve such “classrooms”, manned by fourteen qualified teachers doing their utmost with nothing but chalk, voices, and hope. The man who brought this story to the national consciousness was not a government minister, not an education inspector,…

01 Sep

LOCAL AUTHORITIES’ GOVERNANCE & THE SUSPENSION OF KATIMA MULILO TOWN COUNCILLORS

Featured, Opinions

Lazarus Kwedhi In Namibia, state powers are entrusted to administrative bodies and officials, with decisions required to be made in line with the rule of law and every right protected. Within this framework, Hon. Sankwasa, the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, exercised his powers under Section 92 of the Local Authorities Act, 1992 (Act No. 23 of 1992, as amended), by dissolving the Katima Mulilo Town Council and placing its powers under his office. This decision followed the minister’s announcement on Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) news that the Katima Mulilo Town Council had engaged in a bartering arrangement for…

01 Sep

OBSERVER DAILY | Namibia and the AfCFTA

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

When the vice president Lucia Witbooi, travels to Algiers in September to represent President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah at the Intra-Africa Trade Fair (IATF2025), she carries more than a delegation badge. She carries Namibia’s opportunity to shape its place in a continental market of 1.4 billion people, underpinned by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The fair, themed “A Gateway to New Opportunities”, is not just a showcase of trade. It is a laboratory for Africa’s economic future. The AfCFTA, established in 2018 and operational since 2021, is the largest free trade agreement since the formation of the World Trade Organisation.…