SMses for Thursday 01 March 2012
SMS Of The Day *NAMIBIA is a youthful nation! Using school buses is the most efficient way not only to allow our learners to be at school on time but to reduce traffic congestion in our city. This will contribute to academic performance as transport chaos is minimal and learners get to school on time.
Food for Thought
*IT is high time that the ministries design a database where they log all the concerns coming from the readers in order to address them sufficiently. In fact almost all the concerns are genuine.
Bouquets and Brickbats
*THANKS to The Namibian newspaper for providing us with copies from its archives. This demonstrates the contribution this paper made to our liberation struggle and it brings memories of how Namibians from all sorts of backgrounds contributed, mainly Namibians who spent a year being unlawfully detained and abused whilst building this beautiful country! What a way to wage a war!
Budget
*MINISTER Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila thank you very much for the much-improved budget and the N$9 billion allocated to education. It is a lot and more than enough. I just hope we all benefit in the education sector.
– Christof Mbango
*NAMIBIA’S biggest enemy is poverty! Why increased spending for the Defence Ministry? We are not aware of any enemy who might attack us. If we are wrong the Government must inform the nation accordingly.
*THE budget of N$3,4 billion for defence, almost the same as for health, at a time we are at war with nobody others than ourselves whilst our health system is falling apart; N$1,06 for war veterans and only a mere N$50 per month increase for our senior citizens who sacrificed their entire life to develop our country! Absolutely ridiculous to say the least!
– Upeautjike
*MINISTER Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila why can’t the Government increase the old-age pension by N$100? You can easily give away N$50 000 to the so-called veterans while our old people are suffering!! Please let the Government take care of its old, helpless elders.
*NOW that the budget has been read please explain to us normal people the difference between a billion, trillion and ‘miljard’.
n MINISTER of Finance what went wrong with the budget? Civil servants are still not coping with their salaries but there is money for veterans, money is stolen from the GIPF. Where is that money going and how will they recover it? It is not fair towards other Namibians.
– Concerned civil servant
*SHAME on the Finance Minister! Pensions increased by N$50 while Air Nam gets another bailout of N$500 million! Can you explain why defence must get that huge amount while health gets a bit more?
*THE budget is out and no salary regrading for nurses despite empty promises. The whole country, doctors and clerks, were regraded. So Dr Kamwi prepare yourself to work in the wards.
*SINCE the 2012/2013 budget is making provision for housing for police officers, Minister of Safety and Security please look into accommodation of police employed in the small towns. They cannot buy houses there and are living in discomfort at police stations, while the police in towns are living in comfort in government houses. Please build houses and flats at police stations in the villages or buy government houses to accommodate them.
*HOW can you allocate only N$90 million to the National Housing Enterprise while you know there is a housing backlog of about 90 000 and Air Namibia gets the biggest chunk (N$500 million). Remember we don’t sleep in those expensive jets you are busy investing in.
Taxing Times
*IT really is time to scrutinise the goings-on at the Ministry of Finance: four months after you have personally presented to the person in charge your cash payment receipts you are again accused of a late submission and arbitrarily slapped with interest on a non-existent debit balance!
City Fathers
*DEAR Founding Father, please ask Windhoek Municipality why Sam Nujoma Avenue has no pavements. Hundreds of workers and tourists walk between Klein Windhoek and the city centre every day where the gravel walking surface at times is only 30cm wide. I am particularly referring to the cutting near Windhoek High School. Proper pavements please!
*CITY of Windhoek for many years now there has just been a quick fix, at the exact same spot, of the water pipes in Haseweb Street, Cimbebasia that cannot carry the weight of the dump truck. Due to this we have constant filthy water potholes and running water. Imagine the effects on our geysers. Please act responsibly as your services are not free. Time has come to resolve this once and for all.
Health Matters
*MANGETTI Dune Health Centre, western Tsumkwe has been a health hazard since December. The health facility is surrounded by sewage and smells bad. We have reported this problem to the Ministry of Works but no response. Patients’ and nurses’ lives are at risk. Please help.
– Concerned Nurse
*CAN the Minister of Health please deploy more registered nurses at Lüderitz Hospital as there is a shortage at the said hospital. The only four registered nurses cannot handle the workload at the hospital since the unregistered nurses are mistreating these registered nurses. Urgent please. It is people’s health involved here.
Education
*WE don’t want afternoon school, please build classrooms because the kids are suffering. Afternoon school is not effective. Come and see in Dolam.
*MINISTRY of Education please tell us what you are going to do for us those whose application forms were lost through NamPost. We can’t study without loans.
*MINISTRY of Education why are you not giving loans to part-time students? Some of the courses are only offered part-time e.g. diploma in accounting/auditing at Unam and it does not mean we are working. Our parents can’t afford to pay this and some of us did not continue with the second year because we owe Unam.
*WHEN are the Namibia Training Authority students who were trained at Tucsin going to get work? We are tired of waiting.
*CAN the Ministry of Education please tell me the requirements for becoming a teacher because a person with 25 points in 5 subjects is being told to study adult education.
*NAMIBIA College of Open Learning director only two days are left for registration. What is your plan now for those learners who did not register due to a lack of materials? Is ‘NAMCOL taking education to the people’ if most learners are left without being registered at almost all centres in Khomas Region?
*THE Ministry of Education should abolish giving condoms to school learners. Let’s get down to basics.
– Mr Lion
*UNAM Faculty of Law classes started on February 27 but on February 29 classes for second-years are cancelled. Minister of Education we need your help.
In and From the Regions
*MARIENTAL municipality after 22 years there are no street name boards in Aimablaagte. Why?
ACC Alert
Who looks after the nurses?
*MINISTER of Health are you aware of the corruption at Central Hospital nurses’ home? The nurses are struggling for accommodation while their places are being occupied by people who are not in the ministry. People are accommodating their friends and families. I invite Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate.
Responses to recent SMSes
*I CANNOT agree more with your SMS of the Day. Banks, insurance companies, shops seem to think all their customers are idiots or nitwits. Be it in service, advertising or by ignorant and arrogant middle management. Do they really believe that someone still believes. ‘Mr XYZ is not in at the moment we will call you back’. The service industry is growing in the world. It is only in Namibia that you dread to have to use it.
*A HAPPY worker gives good work so in the end we can’t blame civil servants for not doing their job well.
*I WONDER if there is a legal way to sue people or institutions for stealing or wasting employees’, companies’ and individuals’ time? I am sure one judgement in favour for the person suing would revolutionise customer service in Namibia.
*LOOKING at the way retail workers are treated and exploited by their employers, don’t you think this contributes to their behaviour against customers? I believe if employers are compassionate maybe they will feel valued and deliver.
– Jackson F
*Dear JS Konjore, there’s absolutely nothing great about Mugabe’s leadership. Whatever good he has done long ago has been cancelled out by all the bad things happening in Zimbabwe now!