On NWR’s Audacity
THE sheer audacity of NWR is beyond comprehension. What have these people been doing with the money since they took over from the old Nature Conservation who ran these resorts efficiently and more importantly at rates we the working people of Namibia could afford.
It is not really surprising that they now run at a loss, resorts under their control are now so expensive that for many years as an artisan I found it cheaper and within my means to take my family to private game farms or resorts rather than Etosha, Waterberg, Hardap or Ai-Ais. This was well known to them with people complaining in our national newspapers of their ridiculous prices but they never worried about us, the local citizens, they only looked to the tourists with their Euro and US$ who did not complain of shoddy facilities and services, due to lack of maintenance and lazy staff with prices that can only be described as a rip-off.
Well now they have to face the realities of the world economic crisis the tourists don’t come any more in the numbers of previous years.
Here in Swakopmund Mile 14 was always popular with fishermen and their families in December. It has been closed for 2-3 years, all the fishermen wanted was toilet facilities and drinking water, but that appears to be too much trouble for the small profit made. People still use it but now for free as the place is empty, though NWR have been known to lay charges against people using it on occasions as they say it is unsafe when high tides eroded parts of the beach and they lost a couple of toilets to the sea. So what? Replace them with new ones further back from the beach. At the moment Walvis is battling with underground sea water forming large lakes between Kuisebmond and Narraville but should Walvis also be closed down because of this?
NWR now want Government to hand them $322 million of OUR MONEY by blackmailing us with retrenchment of its workers. It’s time to be realistic – they are not capable of running these resorts in a cost-effective manner and to hand them more money will not be the end. Like Air Namibia they will be back again with their hands out begging. Rather hand it over to private enterprises with a stipulation that they be within reach of the average Namibian pocket.
Realist
Swakopmund