SMSes for Friday 16 November 2012
SMS Of The Day *NAMIBIAN Government: Please change and control the outrageous property, food and municipality rates, prices, laws and policies. These are basic needs. Workers may survive on the peanuts the government is paying them if these things are controlled. We need selfless and caring leaders. Help all citizens, so they can live and in turn support you and look forward to a better future!
Food for Thought
*THE Minister of Information is telling us that the dinner was not held at State House but at the private residence of the President. The building was also erected with our money.
*AFTER two decades of independence we still cling to racial segregation. Recently I took my child to a Grade 1 welcoming event. Shockingly I discovered that children of the same colour were placed in one class. We make our young ones aware of these racial differences and sadly the prejudice will linger on in our society. What was the point of fighting for liberation if we allow it to continue and thrive on the very evils we intended to abolish?
*BABY dumping is getting out of hand. I was wondering if these women are educated about adoption. It should start at antenatal clinics. Let’s help save babies lives with more awareness.
*FATHER of the nation please hear your people’s cries. If you do research you will find that only low income earners go to cash loans in Namibia. Why?
*WE don’t need NBC. Please Government, we beg you. Don’t give them the N$50 million they ask for. They will just spend it again on the fat cats. We have enough private radio and TV stations which we enjoy very much. We really don’t need NBC. They just cost us money!
Suggestion Box
*MINISTRY of Women and Child Welfare please open a toll-free number or, like in other countries, a baby box where desperate young mothers can phone or send a SMS to hand over their babies anonymously.
*WE need a FNB branch in Soweto.
*KNOWLEDGE Katti, you pledged N$500 000 to Swapo. When are we going to feel for the poor and needy people? That money could have changed a lot of lives for the better if five orphanage homes were to be given a N$100 000 each.
*THE income tax in our country is too much and I am of the opinion that it should be slashed and a certain percentage should go to a fund for a social grant for unemployed people. Yes, this will narrow the gap between the haves and have-nots in income redistribution as the current measures are failing dismally.
*MINISTERS should get salary increments according to the performances of their ministries and their salaries should be published in the media as they serve public offices.
*MINISTER of Home Affairs, you have the power and authority to extend the lifespan of expired passports that still have empty pages by simply endorsing ‘extended for a year or two’. This extension is accepted internationally. Many countries do that. It’s also cheaper for the government instead of issuing new passports every time. Some passports were only used once or twice but are still full of unused pages.
*CITY of Windhoek, please help us to bring us a soccer-field to Okahandja Park.
Bouquets and Brickbats
*I WAS just wondering and amazed by the collective silence of the print media not criticising the unreasonable claims by those striking teachers. In the past you had a lot to say about the bloated civil service. These demands of the striking borders are economic sabotage!
*NBC Oshiwambo ‘Open Line’, we want to pose our suggestion and comments. Some of our elders are locked out. They can’t do it in other languages. Freedom of speech please.
*CITY of Windhoek, did the UN pay you for the parking spaces you closed?
n NBC will get that money from GRN! Why? They talked nonsense about teachers and were covering for GRN during the strike. Did you ever give five minutes to a teacher to talk about their anger? Never! But you gave more then five minutes to ministers to throw stones at teachers! Was it because of this bailout money that you need from GRN? The strike is still on! Teachers also need that money!
*WHAT should we deduce from the teachers’ decision to return to school? Was the strike a waste of time and a joke? I do not see any reason why you should complain in the future.
*CITY Police and Nampol officers please start doing your work. Because there are too many crimes taking place in Greenwell Matongo, especially Eveline and Salt Spring Street. Start patrolling in the riverbeds at night, that’s where the criminals are hiding! How long does it take you to respond to an emergency call? We want a police presence nearby!
*THE Apartheid government spent millions to build houses even in townships. The current government have only built one house at the cost of one billion dollars (the State House) could that money not have been used to build houses for government officials?
*I CAME to Namibia three days ago through the Ariamsvlei port of entry. I was shocked when I got there. One of the biggest border posts that operates 24 hours doesn’t have toilets in working condition. They are all locked. Officials informed me they are not flushing! Shame on you Namibia!
Service Please
*NATIS, your Windhoek town office service stinks. We must queue for very long in a smelly, very hot office for service! Please fix your air-conditioning!
*MVA, The Otjiwarongo-Okahandja road is a death trap but it doesn’t seem a priority for your accident and injury prevention team or are your statistics saying something else?
*CAN the City of Windhoek please do something about the pub in Tauben Glen? We paid a lot of money to stay in that area and now it looks like a refuse dump. It’s not safe for our kids. The pub is open on a Sunday until late and people are drinking outside and on the pavement. It’s downgrading our neighbourhood! We need action!
*CITY Police, please watch the breakdown truck drivers parked at Nice Restaurant. Some drive like crazy, endangering the lives and property of innocent people. How stupid must you be not to learn from the destruction and devastation you witness every day? Please stop their reckless driving!
Teachers
*GRN, re-think your decision to deduct N$750 from teachers salaries for every striking day. You don’t pay us that amount per day. It’s ridiculous!
*PRESIDENT Hifikepunye Pohamba, could you please see to it that no money is deducted from teachers who participated in the strike? As parents we don’t want a new strike come January 2013. As I understand, some principals submitted attendance lists, while others decided against it. The teachers were just exercising their rights like so many others.
*DANKIE Katjiuanjo, which high post will you get? We are watching you Dankie! Teachers continue with your strike, this is your battle!
*ONE of the daily papers reported that Josephat Abel, the police commissioner, instructed striking teachers to go to school. Since when does he have the mandate to tell teachers what to do? Is it an added job to his position! I think he should revisit his job description because he is surely not the father of those teachers. It is however not surprising because people tend to forget that they too have ‘no-go zones’ when they occupy senior positions.
Politics
*JERRY Ekandjo, please campaign on merit. Your ideas on party colours on trees and in church are known. Talk about your foreign policy, economy, education, etc. Do it the American way.
*WHY are our leaders forgetting those who voted them into power? Basilius Haingura, on whose side are you? I am sure that your respect from teachers is 100 percent withdrawn.
*JOB Amupanda, it would be interesting to know what you have learnt from the Chinese comrades regarding their attitude towards corruption and universal basic human rights. What I see of the dear comrades, in terms of the above mentioned in Namibia alone, is dreadful or do they apply double standards? What lesson can SPYL learn from the comrades in terms of corruption and human rights? Please remember scholarshipgate. Birds of a feather?
Labour
*MINISTER of Health, are you aware that the management of Oshakati Hospital don’t want the staff to work on Sunday? They said the government don’t have money to pay staff. Especially kitchen staff. In the coming few days patients will suffer because no one is volunteering him or herself. No overtime paid, no work.
*I DON’T understand our government. Why did they stop overtime for the cleaners in Ministry of Defence and other civil servants are still working? Cleaners have the lowest salaries but we are the ones who are stopped from working overtime.
*GOVERNMENT have money for war vets but no money for other civil servants. What a joke! All entry level jobs are reserved for struggle adults who call themselves ‘kids’. Teachers must continue with the strike. It’s about time the Minister of Finance steps down.
*NAMPORT Authority, we are casual workers at NamPort Walvis Bay but we are not paid our monies properly. They decide to pay our backpay from August. Why not backdated from April 1? Please help!
Response to Previous SMSes
*THE writer of the SMS on teachers wanting to be treated special while they just received eight percent is poorly informed and it also shows that they are not public servants. Where is the housing loan to which government contributes 66 to 70 percent? The maximum the government pays for a housing subsidy is less than N$2 800 per month. A two bedroom house in Windhoek is worth N$600 000 and has a payment of not less than N$6 500. Where then is that 66 percent? Even worse, where is that house at N$600 000 in Windhoek? Public servants are tired of renting.