SMSes for Monday 30 August 2010
* THE Government should pull up its socks by protecting the interests of its nationals who are being exploited by foreign employers. The Government should note these are the people that brought them to power. The interests of the nationals should be protected! – Linus, Outapi
Food for Thought
* PLEASE open a shop with only Team Namibia products. South Africans dictate prices in Namibia. Let’s go for Namibian products
* (ARCHITECT Jaco) Wasserfall is dead right – just a pity we have not heard from other architects. Namibians have a fantastic sense of style developed through shared histories – these space ships and pretentious palaces have no place in our country
Happy 25th Birthday
* THANK you The Namibian newspaper for telling us good news. All the best wishes and more years ahead!
– Vicky Itope, Ondangwa
* CONGRATS to all at The Namibian! Odd that those you backed in the struggle ignore you now. Keep voicing the rights of all the people
* CONGRATS on The Namibian’s 25th birthday. I could not help noticing that most reporters’ desks were cluttered. Does it mean a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind?
* AS a Namibian I’m proud of The Namibian. Congratulations to Gwen and team! Happy birthday from one 25-year-old to another.
* THE people’s newspaper, The Namibian, turns 25 years today Monday, August 30 2010. I wish the popular, fearless, trustworthy and widely-read paper a happy birthday. After the brazen reactionary ban on ‘Open Line’, ‘Chat Show’ and other Oshiwambo talk shows, you gave the nation a breather through your SMS page. I demand that the Swapo Party– Government remove its undemocratic and unconstitutional ban on the newspaper.
– Steven Mvula; Human Rights Activist
Bouquets and Brickbats
* PRESIDENT (Hifikepunye Pohamba) thank you very much for releasing our sons and daughters from the prisons. You are a real leader. Thank you.
* I WOULD like to thank the Founding Father of the Namibian Nation (Sam Nujoma) for the freedom we have today and many more years to come
* THE Home and Decor Show was pathetic! Poor organisation, hardly any stalls and they still charged N$50 as an entrance fee. A rip off!
* THE advert for the agriculture investment conference on NBC TV is pathetic to say the least.
* WHAT is the use of throwing your plate in the dustbin but tomorrow you take it out and put in your food to feed yourself. Please Swapo do something about the banning of Government advertising in our only true newspaper.
– Paulus Shikongo, Swakopmud
* WHY is there NO Namibian salt at Pick n Pay shops in Windhoek? Do we really need imported sea salt when we produce more than enough here? Where does our fish go? We import I&J from SA and our fish goes to Spain. Our crabs go to Japan and we import them from Vietnam, Thailand etc! We must be the only country in the world where individual fishermen are not allowed to operate. There is not a single fish market on the coast. And for heaven’s sake why is there not even one shop or butcher selling goat meat? Were did all the goats go? Has anybody ever seen Namibian grapes in a shop? What the hell is wrong with us?
* ETO! Matisa I am very concerned about the corruption and fraud cases reported weekly in local dailies. If it is true, what type of nation are we displaying to the rest of the world? Will my boy be able to be trusted to handle the finances of foreign companies in foreign countries.
– Sydney.
We Remember
* PLEASE let’s respect the history of our country. I was so impressed by Pendukeni Ithana and ex-Swapo freedom fighter Zulu on August 26 and request the NBC’s Ohiwambo Service to sacrifice three hours for this man and four hours for Minister Ithana so that they can tell more about their struggle for Independence. Maybe they can produce CDs telling about their struggle. People like me won’t hesitate to buy because I love history so much. Otherwise they can go to NBC and record their history so we can hear this even on weekends.
* MR President (Hifikepunye Pohamba) it would’ve been nice if you could honour the Buchters like Anton Lubowski and many others that contributed to the struggle. We Buchters would’ve felt very good if you had done that.
* I WANT to know when our Government will give awards to the relatives of fallen heroes and heroines. Maybe if they were alive they could be recognised but now they are forgotten. Did they die for our leaders to honour themselves? Shame. Please leaders remember the relatives whose fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters died in struggle of this country instead of honouring yourselves as maybe some of you were not at the battlefield or never carried a gun.
* SHOULDN’T Vision 2030 rather be Vision 1960 as we keep on talking about our history at national gatherings.
* WHY must we always try to be so average at everything we do? The manner in which Heroes Day was presented was not at the level of heroes being awarded for lifetime contributions to the liberation struggle. No stage, no chairs for people, nothing.
* WHOEVER determines who to be a hero, it is a shame that Danger Ashipala was left out at the Lüderitz commemoration!
– Comrade Nyokoyamukweni
* WATCHING the live broadcasting of Heroes Day on NBC was torture. Where did these cameraman and other crew get their training? What a waste of time and money looking at the backsides of people. Nothing made sense nothing at all. What a pity!
Health Matters
* KATUTURA’S health inspector please inspect the school toilets at Katutura schools.
* MINISTER of Health please check at Donkerhoek clinic. There were no nurses at the clinic from 14h00 till 16h30 in the afternoon of Friday, August 27.
Education and Training
* THE MINISTRY of Education should make changes in our schools like they did with the former colleges. They should prescribe the qualifications for management positions.
* THE schools need proper managers. Some schools have no management both in the hostel and school administration. Food gets rotten and stolen from the hostel and the school has no discipline and bureaucracy is rampant. We parents have lost hope in the future of our children as all the above eventually lead to high failure rates.
– Parent
* WE need more computers and teachers at St Charles Lwanga.
– Paulina Shikunda, Outapi
* I WOULD like to know from the Ministry of Education if orphans are supposed to be paying school fees?
* MINISTER of Education please note that students of Ekulo SSS were not given their August reports due to a broken printer, even matric students. Now how are they going to fill in their forms?
– Parents
* STUDENTS of A Shipena SS & Concordia College ask the Ministry of Education to print your report cards free of charge. I am tired of parents who are just depending on us who are paying school fees. Sell your phone and pay school fees.
– A Windhoek parent
City Fathers Please…
* CITY of Windhoek, residents of Havana are tired of dust every day. Some of us have erven and are paying every month but get poor service. When are you bringing electricity to Havana? We have been there for 10 years
* CITY of Windhoek and noise. I’m a resident of Hochland Park. There was a time I wanted to sleep in Okuryangava. To tell you the truth I had to go home at night. The noise is so bad that one wonders how those people survive the noise and go to work in the morning. Please do something and rescue these residents.
* CITY of Windhoek we used to get increments of between 13 and 16 per cent. We used to get erven for the low income category. We used to have municipal houses and flats. Where is all this now and where are we heading to under our own leadership if we are already at such a bad stage. This situation of 80 per cent of landless and homeless municipal employees needs immediate attention as this is really embarrassing and it is unacceptable. Employees need an improvement in their housing allowance or to receive erven so that they can build houses they can afford. Accommodation must be regarded a priority.
In and From the Regions
* MY humble appeal to Esmael Uugwanga (Councillor of Ondangwa). When will you bring electricity to Iihwali and Ondumbo? Five years and no development to this villagers. It is not even 2 km to Ondangwa or Eheke. Why we are left behind in everything.
* REMINDER to Roads Authority. Why doesn’t the road between Grootfontein and Mururani have clear road signs more especially on curves! A wake up SMS; do you want people to die?
* WHEN will the mayor bring development to Grootfontein? It’s been over 10 years that this town looks this way. What’s the use of voting if nothing is being done?
– T Shikongeni
* PLEASE help. There are just too many illegal shebeens mushrooming in Outjo’s Etoshapoort township without the consent of neighbours. Local elected leaders as well as police know about it!
Business as Usual
* NAMCOR is losing millions through the petrol deal with Glencore. Why can’t the MD terminate the contract and seek alternative sources. Who is benefitting from that deal? Surely not the company. NLF proved that petrol is a profitable business. Why terminate a profitable deal for a loss making one?
Consumer Concerns
* ARE plastic bags for sale in Namibia already? I was shocked after buying some bread at Kopi Bake at Maerua Mall and requested a plastic to be told it is 20 cents.
Note: There are a few shops that have started charging for plastic bags in an effort to cut down on pollution and encourage reusing plastic and cloth bags.
– News Desk
Sporting
* THE way Barry Rukoro tried to manipulate the Karas football AGM on Saturday was unfortunate. You cannot impose a rogue chairman on the region. Karas teams took a bold step. Keep it up!
ACC Alert
* CORRUPTION is authority plus monopoly minus transparency and it’s worse than prostitution.
* ANTI-CORRUPTION Commission please it’s time to look at how the Namibian Football Association’s money for the development of referees is being used.
Service Please
* WHY does Nedloan not have a branch in Tsumeb? Tsumeb residents have to travel to Grootfontein in order for them to get service.
* MTC can you please improve your hotline service. I hold on for an hour and still don’t get help. Please improve you are the leading network in the country.
* NETMAN 7.2mbps! Nonsense! It can’t even achieve a simple 1.5mbps. Please MTC stop fooling your customers.
* MTC! You are not making the connection at Uushwa community in Omusati Region! Our network is very poor. Please do something!
* WHERE can I inquire about my lost parcel at Nampost courier? Your Ongwediva branch isn’t able to help.
* MR Mpumzi (Pupuma) please come to Standard Bank Oshikango to see the situation on the ground or close the branch.
– Very tired!
* WE at Tsandi – Uukwaluudhi need FNB service please. We are tired of having to go to Outapi every day!
Lost and Found
* WILLIAM Landrey I found your wallet 081-128-7664.
Responses to recent SMSes
* I WOULD want to add my voice to the SMS about the Red Flag Day and all others Flags. It is a well thought idea that it is about time that all speeches should be bound for future generations and as reference materials for that matter.
* TO the SMS which is against numbering of GRN vehicles. I don’t think you would have said that if you were a loyal and patriotic citizen. Do you know how much our Government spends on misuse alone? Get real, we can also do the same and take our families to work okay.
* NOW all is clear: When mindless, self-indulgent hooligans have the gall to tell decent law-abiding citizens to shut up and sleep while they cavort like lunatics in the darkness, it’s clear proof that the “rule of law” is just a useless political cliche in Namibia. What use are laws that aren’t enforced?
* I READ over the week about the lady with 8 children. The problem is that some people are not educated so they need help and we shouldn’t talk badly about them. I want to help this lady with food every month but I’ll do this to help and educate. She should not have more children otherwise I’ll stop my help; she must learn when to stop and now is the time. Please let me know how to contact her. I want to be anonymous to the public please.
* RASTA (SMS of August 27) for the past 12 years there have been black dolls in Namibia. Go to all (not a few) supermarkets, bookshops, toy stores and you’ll see.