Opinions – Page 7 – Windhoek Observer

06 Nov

Why Namibia’s Mental Health Bill must confront maternal mental health and baby dumping

Featured, Opinions

Morna Ikosa The efforts by the Ministry of Health and Social Services in tabling the 2025 Mental Health Bill have been commendable and have led to a landmark step to enshrine dignity, autonomy, and human rights in mental health care in Namibia. However, the proposed bill does not explicitly address maternal mental health, including pre- and postnatal depression. This omission risks leaving thousands of Namibian mothers without adequate support, despite global evidence that postnatal depression is a leading cause of maternal illnesses. Although the bill promises sweeping reforms from community-based care to forensic mental health oversight. Yet, amid its 81…

05 Nov

OBSERVER DAILY | judiciary on the brink: The looming magistrates’ strike demands urgent action

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

Namibia stands on the precipice of an unprecedented judicial crisis. The looming nationwide strike by magistrates, the first of its kind in recent memory, is not merely another labour dispute; it is a thunderclap warning of deep and festering discontent within the very foundation of our justice system. If this strike proceeds tomorrow as threatened, it will shake public confidence in our courts, disrupt thousands of pending cases, and place the credibility of our judiciary under severe scrutiny. For years, murmurs of frustration have echoed through the corridors of our lower courts: complaints of overwork, understaffing, inadequate facilities, and stagnant…

04 Nov

Free education: A bold step, but responsibility must follow

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

The government has finally clarified what it means by “free education”. While the clarification may have disappointed some who expected full coverage of every education-related cost, from tuition to accommodation, transport, and registration, it deserves acknowledgement for its honesty and fiscal realism. In a time when public expectations often outpace the limits of public resources, this is a bold and mature move by the government. For years, “free education” has been a politically loaded term, used loosely and often misunderstood. Many citizens equated it with “everything free”, but in truth, no education system in the world is ever entirely free.…

04 Nov

Diamond of the Month: October 2025

Featured, Opinions

Celebrating Namibian Excellence DTI proudly honours Johanna Kamati as the Diamond of the Month for October 2025, celebrating her remarkable achievement as the first San learner from Hainyeko Combined School in the Ohangwena Region to graduate from a tertiary institution. Her story is one of resilience, courage, and the power of education to transform lives. Johanna, now a graduate of the International University of Management (IUM) in Nkurenkuru, recently obtained her Diploma in Junior Primary Education, marking a historic milestone not only for herself but also for her community. Coming from a remote San settlement, she defied the odds stacked…

03 Nov

OBSERVER DAILY | It’s time for an honest conversation about black business

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

For far too long, Namibia has danced around the issue of black economic empowerment, turning what should have been a sober national conversation into a shallow talking point. Government after government has touted policies, programmes, and slogans meant to uplift black entrepreneurs, but when you strip away the rhetoric, what’s left is a system that continues to strangle black business while protecting entrenched privilege. You cannot claim to be pro-development while simultaneously being anti–black business. The two positions are fundamentally incompatible. Yet that is exactly where Namibia finds itself today, where black entrepreneurs are publicly vilified as “tenderpreneurs”, where every…

03 Nov

Supporting mental health in the mining industry

Featured, Opinions

Jeane Namhadi September and October are dedicated to wellness, with a focus on mental health, cancer awareness, and community care. In the 2024/2025 financial year, the Ministry of Health and Social Services reported over 100,000 mental health cases, a number that continues to grow. This rising figure calls for compassion, open dialogue, and the courage to care. Mental health in the workplace is a vital aspect of creating a supportive and inclusive environment, particularly in industries like mining, where unique working conditions such as shift rotations and extended periods away from family are part of the job. In the mining…

31 Oct

OBSERVER DAILY | When the Engineering Council stalls, the country pays

Editorial, Featured, Opinions

A country that is building roads, schools, clinics, airports and power lines cannot afford a docile Engineering Council. Namibia’s development agenda depends on quiet, often invisible, disciplines: design standards, competent supervision, rigorous inspections, and professional accountability for the people who sign off on the nation’s concrete, steel, electrical systems and digital infrastructure. When the Engineering Council of Namibia (ECN) is at a standstill months after its appointment, the costs are not abstract; they multiply daily through risks, delays, corner-cutting and declining public confidence. The ECN is not a ceremonial board. It exists to register engineers and technologists, set and enforce…

31 Oct

YOUNG OBSERVER | #UNMUTED

Featured, Opinions

Parliament recently revisited the long-delayed Mental Health Bill. The minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Esperance Luvindao, confirmed that the bill is in its final stages of review and will soon be resubmitted to legal drafters. This comes after years of delays in replacing the outdated Mental Health Act of 1973, a law that no longer reflects the realities of modern mental health care in Namibia. News outlets earlier in the week reported that employers would no longer be able to discriminate against mentally ill people; of course, that caused an uproar. While the discussion may seem technical or…

30 Oct

Reparations for what? Ideological clarity is needed!

Opinions

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro REPARATIONS FOR WHAT? This question may sound simplistic to many a descendant of the Ovambanderu, Ovahereo and Nama Genocide, who are and have been endeavouring to reclaim what is rightfully theirs. Something which their forebears were robbed of by Imperial Germany, and thus consequently their descendants were and continue to be disinherited of. Till this day, despite freedom and independence, they have not seen socio-economic justice, let alone in terms of the return of their ancestral land. Let alone for the fact that the recommendations of the 2018 Second National Land Conference have at best been gathering dust…

30 Oct

Political reset: a test of fiscal discipline and political recalibration and credibility

Opinions

PAUL T. SHIPALE (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) When finance minister Ericah Shafudah stood before Parliament on 21 October 2025, her address carried a tone of sober realism. Namibia’s mid-year budget review revealed uncomfortable truths: economic growth is slowing, revenue performance has softened, and public debt continues its upward trajectory. Yet, instead of yielding to populist pressures or political expediency, Shafudah chose a path defined by discipline, recalibration, and credibility. The mid-year review presented an unchanged expenditure envelope of N$ 89.4 billion, signalling fiscal restraint amid deteriorating conditions. Growth projections for 2025 were revised downward from 4.5% to…