SMSes for Tuesday 20 March 2012
SMS Of The Day *TOMORROW is a day to celebrate our politicians’ insatiable egos. We cannot celebrate our independence since we, as a country, have never been more dependent on the world for hand-outs. We should rename the day to German Chinese Dependence Day.
Food for Thought
*LET’S try the Basic Income Grant (BIG) for a year or two and see the impact and response.
Bouquets and Brickbats
*IT was beautiful on Saturday, March 17, to see so many nurses dressed in full uniform paying tribute to their beloved colleague, Poppy Felix, my sister, at her funeral in Windhoek. Saying your oath broke our hearts. Although you are sometimes criticised be assured that we appreciate what you are doing. Your work requires a noble call and service. Keep it up!
– GJ Jansen
*IT’S not often that you find someone who’ll go the extra mile for somebody they don’t know, or when they could have benefited from someone else’s misfortune. On Thursday night, Windhoek taxi driver Andreas Naftali showed the best of human nature. After dropping off three people at a house party, he went to fill up with petrol and, at the service station, noticed a Canon camera lying on his back seat. He drove back to the house to ask if the camera belonged to one of the trio. It did! Andreas Naftali, we need more Namibians like you.
– Jean Sutherland
*I TRULY am grateful for the part that our Founding Father played towards the liberation of our country but when is the recognition going to be enough. Is there a time that he will come out and say ‘no thank you’ to any new ‘honouring’. Did he really have to accept his face replacing another hero on the Namibian dollar. What about Maharero, Marengo, Garoëb, Gurirab etc? Please this is the only place that we have recognition of another Namibian great.
*HAPPY 22nd anniversary President Pohamba (The Namibian, March 16). We cry with you Pashu Shuudi. The finest letter we have read in years. Thank you
*FULL points to Pashu Shuudi. I could not agree more. Namibia became a mess thanks to the exclusive corrupt thinking of the ruling party and its top leadership.
*SPOT on and thank you Pashu Shuudi for your moving and honest opinion (The Namibian, March 16) you have said it all . We are all running out of patience slowly. Almighty bless the Land of the Brave . Thank you The Namibian for telling it like it is. Bravo!
– Muna
*IN the Christof Maletsky article he advises the residents of Oranjemund to cherish the moment to elect the first town council. If one considers all the other failed corrupt and no service delivery towns in the south, Oranjemund is better off managed by the present company set up by Namdeb.
*NEW parliament or just an addition to the old building? Editor please educate us! Information is power distortion of information can bring uncertainty.
Independence Day
*CAN we for this year’s independence celebration focus on the future and not who is comrade or not, and who is a revolutionary and who is the real liberator and who is not. Can the leaders just focus on the future of this beautiful country and the nation.
– AA
*WHEN politicians open their mouths they talk about independence and how they fought for the country. Good for them and thank you very much but people as a nation we cannot stay at independence because independence doesn’t put food on my table, doesn’t pay my rent, doesn’t pay for education for my children and above all I can breath without independence. It is time to move on as a nation to more present and pressing things.
Running the Show
*MINISTER Bernard Esau with the new research vessel on its way what do you have in mind for Welwitschia employees who put in their brains and sweat for 16 years and made successes of almost 98 per cent of all surveys? Do you plan to dump them on the street?
*NATIONAL Youth Service (NYS) can someone who really cares for the Namibian youth intervene. This organisation is full of tribalism and favouritism. New board do something. A lot is happening at this organisation.
Education
*I AM a concerned parent of a blind student at Unam. They don’t have notes up to now. Who is their resource person? Please management look into this matter. This problem has been since last year.
*MINISTRY of Education why are there always problems in Katutura schools? Do the teachers teach in these schools? After the whole Augustineum drama, I have concluded that this is organised chaos. Teachers do not want to work under some principals, but can we all choose who we work under? In the meantime the learners suffer. Please let us remind teachers that they are there to work and not for personal issues. Our kids deserve better.
*I HAVE worked at two school in Katutura and one thing I know is that the teachers in these schools do not want to work. Go to the classrooms in some of the schools (names supplied) and you will see why the learners are failing. I am in a town school now where we work and we do not gossip for breakfast, lunch and super.
Health Matters
*I AM quite concerned about the auditing of patient medical files in hospital wards. Who should audit those files once a patient is discharged? At Swakopmund State Hospital it’s the nurses and to me that does not make much sense, because they who wrote the files are still the ones doing the auditing. It’s like a student marking his own exam papers.
*IF a state doctor is on standby isn’t he/she supposed to attend to patients when called? This is not the case at Onandjokwe State Hospital. The doctor comes in his own time. Is this how it should be?
*THE Patient’s Charter says that patients have the right to know the identity of the nurse/doctor treating him or her but many don’t have ID cards. Please Dr Kamwi send a directive so that all hospitals give ID cards to employees.
Labour Issues
*CLEANERS at the Polytechnic are going through a lot of problems. One wonders how they work the salaries out. After working for two weeks one gets N$275 and for the full month N$600 to N$800, which is not fair after you have worked from Monday to Friday 07h00 to 17h00. And the work is too much. If this is how you pay your cleaners, how do you expect a clean place? The toilets are also dirty sometimes. Make changes while you can to create a clean and healthy environment?
In and From the Regions
*CURRENT Punyu Group leadership look at Standard Bank, Ondangwa – no parking! Level that area and put interlocks to prevent accidents. You need a spot fine. It is really bad for our visitors.
City Fathers
*WHO is controlling the municipal buses? Overloading is the order of the day. The carrying capacity is 65 seated and 15 standing but there are 46 standing plus 65 sitting. Traffic officers do something.
Service Please
*THE recent article in another English daily about the Woermann Brock shops was spot on and is also true of our Woermann in Grootfontein. The shop floor is dirty, empty crates and shelf stock block the aisles and we can’t walk there. Only two tills are manned after 17h00 resulting in long queues! And I have been in the shop twice when the manageress reprimanded and scolded a worker in public for everyone to hear. Very unprofessional and humiliating for workers!
*I WENT shopping in Woermann Brock this Saturday and the staff were so rude that I abandoned my purchases and left the store.
*I WOULD like to hear from the Ministry of Works and Transport why Namibia has only one office where we can apply for transport permits? Please expand your offices to the northern regions because it take too long for permits to be processed.
Responses to recent SMSes
From the NBC
*MR Director General of our national broadcaster you must also play your part. We Namibians/TV licence holders do not accept your ‘unilateral’ decision not to broadcast our Independence Day celebrations on the public holiday! We want it; deserve it, we have paid you for it! Sorry, not negotiable! Just do it. No excuses, otherwise its a national disgrace!
Please note that the Independence Day Celebrations will broadcast live from Mariental on 21 March 2012 as from 09h00 – 13h00. The government has made money available to make this possible for which we remain immensely grateful. All future live broadcasts (be it for Namas, football or any national event) will unfortunately still be subject to availability of adequate funding.
Director General
Albertus Aochamub
*THE Arrive Alive Campaign has been and is still requesting a ban on people travelling on the back of bakkies because it’s obviously dangerous, especially for kids! Inside cars there are seatbelts! To ask how many kids have actually died on the back of a bakkie? To most people one is too many!
*TEACHERS and teaching staff please, vacations are for learners to rest their brains before the next teaching phase continues. Kindly use vacations to enrich yourself with materials to take your methodology and approach to the next level. To improve on your pass rates network with others in the same field and if you need rest do proper leave planning at your institution and take your well entitled to leave accordingly. Workshops during holidays/vacation are thus recommended.
– Concerned parent