SMSes for Friday 07 September 2012
SMS Of The Day *IF A new board is established to control medical costs, why don’t we go further and create new boards to control housing, legal cost etc? – Papuky
Food for Thought
*CIVIL Servants should rather start working and setting an example, by at least scaling down on self enrichment initiatives and attending to the workload assigned to them before shouting for salary increases. Salary increases need to be earned through performance and is not a right!
Bouquets and Brickbats
*I’M A Swapo member and it shocked me to read in The Namibian how childish politicians are. We say that education is not a privilege but a right but the same individuals who must ensure our children receive this right are doing this ridiculous thing. Gentlemen, let’s grow up. Hidipo Hamutenya is also a Namibian and the school has the right to make any Namibian its patron. The schools belong to the Namibian government and not Swapo.
– Desmond Festus
*I AGREE to some degree that most companies provide excellent/efficient services at trade fairs/expos. Why can’t they do the same at their offices? I got excellent service from FNB, Home Affairs and Ministry of Finance recently. I couldn’t say the same for MTC. If only they can all keep it up to provide services to the Namibian nation.
*JOHANNA Benson you are a national hero! You really put Namibia on the map again. Well done girl, we are so proud of you.
*CUSTOMER service at Standard Bank Home Loans is pathetic. It’s taking these people more than two months just to merge two accounts. I think we as clients have more power than we realise. Let us, as home loan holders, form an association that will assist us in addressing our issues collectively. That’s the only way they’ll start taking us as clients seriously. If you are a loan holder at Standard Bank Home loan and you’re not satisfied with their service, then this is the time to try something different.
*UNDER the long-serving leadership of Peter Nevonga, Napwu lost its spark and reputation as a champion in representing the interest of the workers. They are too distant from their own members. They should come and talk to civil servants and get to the bottom of the problems we are facing. To President Hifikepunye Pohamba and the rest of our leaders, we, civil servants, feel betrayed by the people we voted into power. Ever since we raised the matter of increasing housing subsidies and salaries, no one has expressed concern about our cry but it is our tax money that is paid to you, your ministers, the corrupt CEOs, board members and lent to well connected comrade businessmen to live a wealthy life while we are sleeping on empty stomachs spending our whole salaries on paying the rent. It hurts.
*MOOLA, playing your game is easy with our hard earned money, but to win is truly not for mahala.
*PLEASE Nabta, as a regular commuter between Okahandja and Windhoek and at times also between Rehoboth and Windhoek, I am a little amazed by the prices charged. What are the normal rates between these points or is it up to the driver to decide?
*NORED Ondangwa, your electricity goes off and on. You are damaging our appliances. There’s not always someone at home to switch off the plugs.
*NORED Ondangwa, we a tired of the electricity going on and of everyday. What is going on? Please do something. You are damaging our appliances.
*THE world cheered, rejoiced and gave a massive standing ovation to our flag and the ‘Diamant Star van die Baai’, Johanna Benson. They saluted her phenomenal performance and admired us as a small country by producing an outstanding superstar like Benson. She sent a message to our politicians and businessmen that we must plough back. Let’s either invest our scarce resources in diamonds like Benson and build schools and hospitals and not on papegaai politics, statues and changing names of towns and streets.
– Setho
*WE HAVE witnessed that most of the Namibians see English as an official language but most of the people do not understand or speak English. But nowadays everywhere you go English is spoken. Let us minimise English and speak it at official events. We cannot speak English only at an event where there elderly who cannot speak or understand English. This especially happens at parents meetings where the elderly come to represent their children but leave the parents meeting without understanding anything at all because of the language used. There should at least be people translating in a way that all people can understand.
*WITH reference to Swapo’s closure of the school in Ohangwena, the police’s treatment of street vendors etc and it’s attitude towards the opposition: They must learn from history that no regime will be in power forever.
School closure
*THE ILLEGAL closure of Haihambo Primary School was the result of uneducated leaders in Ohangwena Region. They don’t even know what the word democracy means and that is why the region is behind. They don’t know what they are doing.
– Concerned parent.
*DEAR colleagues, thanks for closing the school so your children can end up just like you.
*THOSE protesters are not very bright. They closed a school so NO kids could get an education, not even their own! Maybe these protesters should get an education.
*THANKS to the Minister of Education for the comments he made on the issue of Omutwewomunhu school. He’s proven again that he is a leader with national interest at heart. We need an educated nation. Those people who locked school gates must be charged with criminal offence.
*SHAME on you Swapo. Closing the school without considering the children’s right to education? Education has nothing to do with politics.
*SWAPO members, you must know that Haihambo Primary School does not belong to your party but it belongs to the nation.
*WHY are Swapo members against Hidipo Hamutenya being the patron of that school while there are also streets named after him? Those kids are not studying for Swapo or RDP. They are studying for their futures. They are not politicians!
NBC
*NBC, can you please repeat the ‘1On1’ interview of Namholoh? We in Ongwediva did not watch it due to a power failure in the town.
Healthcare
*MINISTRY of Health, thank you so much for the new medical control board that is to be introduced. Even if a person has medical aid, the top up costs charged at random by medical providers to just about any price is shocking. These are referred to as admin costs, “by betalings”, professional fees etc. In effect this has turned into a double payment method as medical providers receive payment from medical aids and also the extra payment from patients. One almost needs to take out extra insurance for these costs.
*SINCE Monday someone is stealing the food, clothes, toiletries and blanket from an old mentally handicapped ouma in Katutura Hospital, 5B, ward three. Do you have no shame?
Education
*WHILE education continues to fail Namibia, at my school 58 per cent of the teachers are unqualified while 42 per cent are qualified. Even management seem to be happy to have this situation. Maybe because unqualified teachers will bow down to anything the principal says in order to protect their jobs. What a mess.
*THE MINISTRY of Education should arrange internship opportunities for Polytech, Unam and IUM students etc because even if they change the syllabus, students will still be unfit for jobs.
Civil Servants
*IS THERE no leader in our country who feels for civil servants? Even the President doesn’t seem to care? Please hear our cry and increase housing subsidies and salaries so we can at least afford to buy houses from N$500 000 instead of N$300 000. Where will we go with our children after retirement? Or government should build houses which we can afford since NHE cannot get enough land from the selfish City of Windhoek who keep on selling land to rich business men to build flats. Don’t we mean anything to you?
– Shareen Warner
*MINISTRY of Agriculture, particularly the Directorate of Rural Water Supply, when are you going to employ us who are working with rural water points? We started work in 1998 as volunteers. We work day and night, weekends and public holidays but up to now we have not gotten 50 cents. Please, we are also human beings.
*MINISTER of Agriculture, you are not fair. Each directorate has extension section with extension officers but we all earn different salaries. This is bad, sidelining some children and feeding others.
*MINISTRY of Health, please do something about lunch hours of our nurses and doctors. They all walk out for lunch at the same time leaving patients untreated. Please Minister, visit Swakopmund State Hosipital. Nurses are dodging for the whole day.
Roads
*I WOULD like to advise our government to introduce the international system of suspending or even revoking the drivers’ licenses of offenders depending on the seriousness of the offense. Some drivers stop in the middle of roads for chatting with other drivers, deliberately jump red traffic lights, speed unnecessarily and use mobile phones while driving. I think such a system will help with the curbing of these offenses.
– D Tjipetekera
*DEAR President Pohamba, it is time for our government to seriously invest in our national roads that have become congested. We need double lanes to allow for safe traveling and overtaking, especially on the Okahandja-Windhoek, Rehoboth-Windhoek and Windhoek-Hosea Kutako International Airport road. Introducing speed limiting devices on all public transport vehicles should also be considered.
– Desmond
Lost and Found
*Masaka Shirunda from Windhoek, I have found your ID and Nedbank card in Queenspark Rundu. Please contact me at 081-7951068.