Swapo youth want condoms at schools

By: SELMA SHIPANGA

THE Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) is urging Government to consider distributing condoms at schools, as well as to formally recognised traditional healers through the establishment of a Traditional Healers’ Association.

This was communicated by SPYL secretary Elijah Ngurare yesterday at a press conference where he made public the more than 150 resolutions they passed at their  congress last weekend.
“[The] congress urges Government to consider distributing condoms in schools as part of efforts to reduce infectious diseases and teenage pregnancies,” he said, adding that the congress would urged the Government to embark on a countrywide campaign of sex education.
Ngurare called on Government to build more schools in rural areas.
“The Minister of Education has communicated that the will to build more schools is there, but has said that the limiting factor is money. We appeal to Government to avail [sic] more resources so that no child has to be taught under trees. If it is not humane for those in urban areas such as Windhoek to be taught under trees, why should it be humane for those in rural areas?” he said.
A call for free education across the board was also included in the resolutions.
Asking for a clear distinction to be made between traditional healers and witchdoctors, Ngurare said the congress recognised the important role that traditional healers have played in Namibian society, and called on the government to formally recognise “these important health service providers” through the establishment of a Traditional Healers’ Association.
“African medical science is not inferior to anybody. [The] congress calls upon government to ensure that the knowledge that our traditional healers hold in respect of traditional herbs and medicines is not lost to current and future generations. To that end, [the] congress resolves that such knowledge be documented and patented as Namibian traditional knowledge,” he said.
The congress urged SPYL members to use the party newspaper Namibia Today to disseminate and propagate the SPYL agenda and that of the Swapo Party.  
“The newspaper should in addition be used in countering negative publicity aimed at the SPYL and its members. All government ministries, agencies and offices should also advertise in Namibia Today as they do in other independent newspapers,” he said.
The SPYL is considering establishing its own newspaper and radio station, Ngurare announced.
With regard to business, the youth league called upon the government and its agencies to “discourage tenderpreneurship”.
The youth league also wants government to “investigate the root causes of the high level of inheritance disputes among previously disadvantaged (black) Namibians and devise a solution as a matter of urgency.”
The resolutions will receive the attention of the mother party at the Swapo policy conference scheduled for next week. The SPYL resolutions also will be discussed at the Swapo congress at the end of the year.

---