Food For Thought

* THIS goes for the people of the South. Keetmanshoop, I'm a resident of the town and what you do all day is just sit around in the sun, complaining about problems. Nothing is going to happen if we don't stand up ourselves and do something. Stop talking so much and try to do something. - Shandy, Keetmanshoop

* I AGREE with the person about the Halali resort: the people where you make payments are unprofessional. It's like they have another standard for treating locals. NWR should give them training and give locals lower prices so we can enjoy our country and not only foreigners that can afford to.

Politics

* TO put a flag on the house does not mean anything. The Swapo Government only knows the youth during elections. Please rich people like you Swapo people, please leave us poor youth in peace. - MJK

* POLITICIANS like [Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development Jerry] Ekandjo are misleading the nation. How can they tell Namibians to commit acts that are against the Namibian laws?

* SOME honourable members will never resign or retire, although they know that they are sleeping and their hearts are calling them to stop, because they are guaranteed of millions in pensions! They can sleep, bunk or be on trips most of the time - they will receive their payouts. What happened to true leadership in Namibia? -Sophy

* DEAR Gwen, you really seem to have an issue with the ruling party. I didn't hear you criticising some leaders for manifesting sabotage of Government efforts for political reasons. The so-called loss of vision and focus, ICC/Nujoma, teaming up with NSHR to insult others are equally painful. How possible is it that when you lose favour it becomes vision loss. Let's be frank what we need is power to continue doing what we did before. - Namibian

* If a politician has only one capacity that makes him/her a politician, then s/he will logically become reactionary and outdated as time moves on and new challenges come up. In experienced democratic systems such a person would either be trained or replaced, ultimately voted out. In Namibia such candidates even increase their reactionary utterances when questioned, presumably because this is what they learned during their period of political socialisation and it has not occurred to them that today's situation requires otherwise. For their party such behaviour works like slow poison because only some politically immature over-egos will be attracted by such outdated but loud rhetoric - the majority will keep away. Democracy is about convincing the majority with arguments, not about shouting old slogans and projecting enemy images. Unlike in a war for liberation, it is not justifiable in a democracy to claim that "one party is the people the people is one party" and under this pretext blur the differences between the party and the state. The population is composed of many different interests, which - legitimate or not - are political reality. The job of politicians nowadays is therefore to manage and synergise these interests - not to deafen the people with increasingly loud old slogans while enriching themselves shamelessly at the expense of the majority under the raised fist of the past. Democratic leaders should pay attention to the writing on the wall and build a cadre that can propel their party into the future, not backwards towards war. - Concerned Swapo member

Politics In General

* IF [MDC leader] Morgan Tsvangirai has been invited to the SADC Heads of State Summit, it simply means he is a head of state.

* CAN the Swapo Government tell the nation its stand on the Geogia-Russia conflict? If sending forces, which side, then?

* THERE'S a low-key coup in Mauritania, and the Namibian Government gets on its high horse about the legality of it all. Russia invades the Georgian sovereign republic, slaughters its citizens, and the silence in this quarter is deafening.

* GEORGIA attacked South Ossetia first and killed many civilians but the world is quiet about it. Had Russia not intervened Georgia would have wiped off Ossetia. Who fired first and to whom was it fired to. Let us be realistic. Georgia caused a loss of innocent civilians everywhere and their president is to blame.

General

* Mr F du Preez, your animals not only kill our livestock, but we lose our family members due to your uncontrolled animals. As long as they are alive and threatening, we will kill them. - Naki, Ugab River

* THIS one goes to the ACC. Why did some people receive three salaries. One from the GIPF, one old age pension and one from the Ministry of Education. Please investgate.

* TEENAGERS and young students at the Polytechnic of Namibia and Unam, especially boys, please be man enough if you want to be respected. Stop gossiping around on campus! Women would like to date guys who are mentally matured and who do not spread rumours. Learn from your mistakes, pick up, dust yourselves and look forward to addressing important issues in our country Namibia please, rather than talking nonsense.

* I WANT to know if you are caught between a life-threatening situation involving a hungry lion, who really has the time to check if the lion is collared or not?

* RE City of Windhoek Aloe July issue, article on Avis Dam: The last paragraph deals with the proposed [and for that matter rather widely opposed] development of erf 2882, adjacent to the Dam. I would ask the Municipality to clarify the statement on how all residents including the less fortunate sections of the community will benefit by selling the erf to a private developer to build a hotel for tourists?

* THIS Government is so far down the drain, I have proof. Documents are lost, their paperwork is a joke. Why do they employ people with no skills? - Morne Liebenberg

Bouquets and Brickbats

* THE Namibian must not use high terminology words like in today's [Friday's] paper 'Damara unity is a hoax', if you want to reach out to the less literate. - We appreciate your comment. However, learning new words can boost literacy. - News Editor

* A JOB well done in Oshiwambo section! Spelling 90 per cent correct. Information relevant. Thanks the people's newspaper The Namibian. - Kafula

* SPORT writers at The Namibian and New Era are too narrow-minded and should report on objective and constructive reality. Corry, for example, once demonised Saintfelt as a failure prior to his appointment, and with some victories to his name an overnight hero? - WE simply reported on his past coaching record and later gave credit for the Brave Warriors' performance at the Cosafa Cup. - Sports Desk

In And From The Regions

* CHURCHES are the gateway for Angolans to get Namibian documents in the Kavango Region. Police do your work. ACC this is totally not good at all.

* TAXI MEN in Oshikango are going hungry after the introduction of free ticket minibuses by the Chinese. No income for Namibians Your Excellency!

* SHOULD people suffer by travelling 50 km from hospital and clinic to see a doctor? Until when are we going to wait for a clinic and Police station at Tsjaka, 50 km east of Gobabis. Please Mr Mogotsi and the Governor's office, we need feedback.

* EACH year this country earns loads of money from tourists flocking to the country. The highlight of visiting this country is our beautiful dunes [Sossusvlei] and yet the road to get there is still undeveloped. Can the Government not look into investing money into developing or gravelling this road?

* PLEASE Government, are you aware that Onesi Constituency in the Omusati Region doesn't have a library, neither a tar road. When are we going to benefit from the fruits of Independence? Please council and Swapo Government do something.

TransNamib

* MR Titus Haimbili must remain as CEO. His leadership will change TransNamib into a better company.

* TRANSNAMIB: We, the employees know this type of thing. Mr [Titus] Haimbili somehow found out some [alleged] dubious deals about someone, so suspension is the way to silence him. The workforce will make sure that he is back next week!

Service Please

* TO the reader who complained about Telecom Namibia's ADSL product, please contact our office so that we can solve your problem. - Oiva Angula, Telecom Namibia

* TELECOM can you please bring 3G EVDO to Engela Oshikango. We are left out all the time. We need fast Internet. Help please!

* THE service [by some] at Welwitschia Travel sucks! I've been requesting info from their office for a week and nobody bothers coming back to me.

* I WOULD like to express my displeasure towards the customer care at FNB Oshakati Main Branch. One queues for hours to be helped, especially customer care services.

* FNB please do something at Omuthiya because the customers suffer a lot by having to go Ondangwa or wait at that mini-ATM at Special Market.

* KFC customers are very disappointed. They must inform us customers about their new procedures, even in newspapers, not at the cashier. They must know that they are in business because of us.

Disconnections

* NBC Otjiherero Radio has not been functioning well for a whole week! NBC please attend to this problem.

* THE NBC coverage of the Olympics is surely a disaster, one moment you are watching this, the next moment you get cut off, without any warning. In fact you should be ashamed by demanding I should pay you for such poor service. Wake up NBC, it's the Olympics. It happens only every four years, is this too much to ask, shame on you.

Education

* DIRECTOR of Education Oshana Region. Are you aware that there is a certain group of learners at Kandjengendi Primary school who weren't given reports for teachers' alleged failure to mark question papers that were found unmarked on the last date of school closure!

* IUM, please print out our certificates. I finished my short course in April and others finished in January. For how long must we wait? IUM please give us feedback.

* I AM disturbed by the mushrooming project schools operating in old buildings and tents, in Windhoek, the seat of central government. What are the causes? - Sage

* THE Ministry of Education should find a way of informing parents as to when school holidays will end. There is always confusion with regard to the actual date of school commencement. These are the issues the public talks about - they appear small but can create a very negative impression about a ministry. For God'ss sake the ministry should invite opinions from the public on how to improve if it is not able to generate such from within.

* PLEASE people who are in charge of Ongwediva College of Education improve your statistics (D in English)! How about those who graduated with E's. - Teuya

Labour

* ACC must look at TransNamib for irregularities in appointments.

Letters Of The Last 48 Hours

•  SMSes Of The Day : Thursday