SMSes for Monday 29 October 2012

SMS Of The Day
*THE practice in some cultures that denies women the right to inherit the family home is fundamentally unjust!
– Yolanda

Food for Thought*WHY do we have to pay almost N$20 for a 400g tin of Namibian pilchards?*NAMIB Chicken is expensive, period! That is what protectionism leads to. The customer is exploited by monopolistic exorbitant prices. Isn’t this an issue the Competition Commission should look into?*OSONA was totally destroyed by a fire. Where were the soldiers? What would have happened if the ammunition storage caught fire.*I DRINK Coke almost every day for the past 23 years. I don’t feel sick, but do I have any right to get Coca Cola to pay for medical tests and/or treatment for an ‘underlying’ or ‘hidden’ complication as a result of Coke drinking?*I WAS shocked to read about the struggle to get mahangu cookies on the market. I have personally seen them in Spar Hochland and Fruit and Veg though. I hope more stores will follow suit.*IS our country engulfed by poor leadership skills and selfishness or what? Only when you strike is when you get salary increments, why can’t we plan ahead and adjust salaries accordingly?
*MOST driving schools’ instructors are not qualified. They are just taken from the street which leads to unprofessional driving which is the cause of many accidents.Suggestion Box*CAN The Namibian please ask the Namibia Environment and Wildlife Society to show us pictures of the endangered species and please use the scientific names in italics or underline.*MINISTER of Trade, we want quality control for escalating prices. Even Zimbabwe has a subdivision for regulating prices of goods! Retire if you are unable to do your job.
Bouquets and Brickbats*AND so finally an admission… Fat people rule!*MTC and NSC should just be brave and swallow their pride and apologise to the nation for their stupid mistake. It is an obvious blunder to exclude Benson from Sportswoman of the Year!*YES, justice is done and comes at a great cost to those who searched for it. I commend the judge. There were mistakes made by illiterate personnel who were employed through the backdoor. Even my cousin who is a sixth grader was there.- J Iimene*SWAPO and ECN should know that ‘not guilty’ doesn’t necessarily mean innocent.*IT’S time the ACC comes to grips with its purpose and powers. Referring complaints of corruption, which is a crime, back to a company’s board to deal with is a total nullification of its object and denial of its statutory duties. The ACC must rather admit that it does not have the capacity to properly interpret its laws and execute its mandate. No wonder corruption is so prevalent.*I THOUGHT Tate Pohamba was going to tell Namib Poultry to sell chickens at local prices or did I miss that part?- Papuky*I WOULD like to bring to attention the issue at Natis. Until when will the people in need of drivers licences sleep at Natis? This is human rights abuse and organised chaos! In Parliament they discuss some issues that do not make any sense, why not discuss this one? Natis should start giving people appointments, even if it will be two or three months later it will be better than the current situation.*I JUST loved Friday’s cartoon! Especially with the prime person with his walking frame, allegedly a struggle kid!*MR D-CLUB, please make your club sound proof. We are sick and tired of your sound. We need to rest on weekends. Please do something!*STER Kinekor has poor management seriously. Movies start 45 minutes late and nobody even cares to apologise to customers. Please hire university graduates to improve your poor services.*NBC, ‘1 On 1′ programme, we also want to hear the other side of the story about Kaaronda. Why is he only ridiculed as a problem maker while we all can see he is fighting against corruption.*HOW can the City of Windhoek simply close down 40 parking spots at Woermann and Brock Klein Windhoek! It’s causing chaos! I simply don’t understand how these obviously senseless decisions are made.*I HEARTILY enjoyed the Curious Kitchen column by Christie Keulder of September 28. I stumbled upon the article when I was dead bored. I thought it spoke about food. How wrong was I! In fact, the man mentioned there; the now deceased Masipula Sithole was my friends’ lecturer of Political Administration. A humorous fellow indeed. May his soul rest in peace. Keep up the good work Namibian team!*LITTLE wonder the election challenge failed. Appeal judges don’t want to upset the apple cart.*WE, the residents of Blikkiesdorp would like to congratulate the municipality of Outjo for a job well done! Congrats Outjo municipality for keeping our streets as dirty as possible!*NAMPOL officers in Independence Avenue are extremely rude and show no respect to anyone. They scream at you as if you don’t understand them and treat you like a criminal just for inquiring about something. Even if you certify a document. A change must come, really.*I APPLAUD Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah for her hard work and also those in her ministry. Climate change affects all of us in the world. Keep it up my sister.*I THINK the President must not talk about a revolution for land. It cannot even be made available at affordable prices to people in urban areas controlled by Swapo councillors. All of a sudden he is concerned about agricultural land while GRN expropriates a productive farm that is now used by people to live on without any economic activity going on. He should not talk about a revolution for land while his government cannot provide affordable land in Windhoek and the masses can’t afford land.*I DON’T have any interest in listening to any minister when making any speech.*WHO tricked the President into wearing the little hat he was wearing in Keetmanshoop when opening the local shopping mall? That was not respectful. The President must be taken care of and dress like other grown ups. Do not repeat this again.Service Please*TRUSTCO Finance, please stop deducting money from our salaries. We cancelled the PPDE course of IOL. We do not have money.*WHY does Standard Bank Home Loans in Gobabis take two to four months to work on a home loan? Should we go to other banks?*A COMMERCIAL bank takes two days to assess and approve a home loan application of millions while MTC takes more than seven days to approve an account for a few hundred dollars a month for a business while the responsible subscriber is a VIP customer of theirs for almost 10 years on exactly the same number without default! What is going on at MTC?*MINISTER of Finance, on October 1 I received a text from your tax office saying I must confirm my bank details. I went to their office and they gave me a form to take to my bank. I completed it and my bank signed and stamped it. On October 2 I handed the form in on the first floor. Since then I receive messages to confirm my details. When I phone the numbers in text, it’s a struggle and when someone answers, I hear, ‘your refund is being processed. You will receive it next week.’ How many next weeks are there at Finance?*MUNICIPALITY please have pity on us! We are in Agste Laan near Otjomuise clinic. Only some shacks have water and electricity. I am a married woman with four kids. Can you please serve us with water and electricity and give us our bills. We will be able to pay also. We don’t have other places to go please!*MY car was insured by Outsurance Namibia. The market value was N$71 000. The premium was N$1 100. I was in an accident on September 24. I claimed on September 25. Quotations were completed on September 27. Up to now nothing was done. Will I be able to convince other car owners to take your products. It is for you to change.*NOW I see why passion killings are on the increase. A man was throwing out his girlfriend’s clothing after the lady discovered he was involved with another woman. He threatened to slice her up and burn her belongings even though she had worked and bought them herself. We called the police but they did not bother to show up. What if the guy carried out his threat while the police are just relaxing?*I’M disappointed with Standard Bank. Your moto says that you are moving forward but it is more like we’re moving backwards. Home Loans, we call your valuators for a whole day or whole week but still there is no one or they don’t want to speak to us. Please do something.Politics*ARTICLE in Swiss newspaper: The French national assembly has approved the cut of its president’s salary, prime minister and the whole cabinet by 30 per cent. That is what a caring government is supposed to do in hard times! How about the Namibian lot?*GOVERNORS of Hardap and Karas, are you all right? Do you understand each other? Unite, develop and make peace! The nation is watching you. Don’t let us down.*DID Andimba Toivo ya Toivo not play a significant role in Swapo and the fight against apartheid, because he hardly features where others are regularly acknowledged.* OUR elders should follow Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s ideas. She wants to give a chance to the young generation. When are the young generation going to learn things if our elders are not giving them chances?*SWAPO, you have already lost my vote. The exile kids will vote for you.*JOB Amupanda, why so quiet on the public service salaries? Must we really be patient beyond six months? Many of us are SPYL members! Or is your focus only on an eventual Deputy Minister post, a la KK?*’TRICKING of traditional chiefs”. It is so pathetic to notice how Swapo members are living in fear. This is such a clear sign of how the politics of fear is still very much alive in Swapo.Health*IN South Africa you are allowed to deduct medical aid contributions from your taxable income and in Namibia not. Madam Finance Minister please explain why not. Please don’t tell me to go to the State hospital.Education*WHY is Polytechnic of Namibia deducting money from the NSFAF holders’ refunds? Can the ministry publish this in the media if they permitted it? We don’t want corruption.*THE Ministry of Veterans Affairs when giving education grants to the veterans’ dependants should not be selective when it comes to fields of study. All children need to be considered. If you become selective only children of well to do parents will benefit.Labour*AREN’T armed response workers in the same category as securities? Up to now they haven’t received their increments. Why and when are they going to get their money as they are also securities or do they want us to go on strike?*THE Namibian Correctional Service is a joke. Your appointment letter states that your new rank is effective from December 1 2009. You get back-pay in April 2010 but in October 2012 you receive a letter saying that you should pay back all that money because there was a mistake. You were actually only promoted in April 2010. Who is at fault?*APPALLED and disturbed to note that delays in completion of road rehabilitation projects, mainly in Ongwediva and Oshakati are experienced due to ruthless minimum wages of N$1,20 per hour that Chinese contractors want to pay employees. The rainy season is underway and employers of the Chinese contractors are conveniently quiet on this matter.- Chaku, Oshakati*MINISTRY of Labour please go to Four 4z Automotive BMW specialist in northern industrial area and see panel beaters getting paid N$800 per month. How can we pay our rent?Civil Servants*PRIME Minister and Ministry of Defence, we want to know if the removal of housing and transport allowance is only affecting NDF members or does it include Prisons, Police and nurses?*GIPF should give us half of what is due to us instead of investing it with the same hungry lions who swallowed our N$660 million!*THANK you PSUN, TUN and nurses union for going straight to the PM. Thanks for having the courage to stand up for us. Please go daily so that we can get the salary adjustments by end October.*HOW do principals of boarding schools, secondary schools, especially senior secondary schools feel about receiving the same salary as the primary school teachers? Are the responsibilities and work load really the same? I feel it is high time this issue was discussed, since our bargaining union has chosen to ignore this unjust reality. Principals of senior secondary schools and boarding schools, are we treated fairly? Give your views because if you don’t nobody else will and we will continue suffering in silence.- Jackson*FOOD and fuel are increasing everyday but for the poor teachers, no salary increment and now Nantu has become a lapdog of the GRN. Please Abraham Iyambo and your seniors, we are starving.- Hungry teacher*ARE NDF management cadres supposed to eat, live in government establishments and use NDF vehicles while their scheme cars are parked in garages.*HOW can one NDF employee, going to Botswana or South Africa for sport or training, be given N$500 for three days while another going for other duties within Namibia gets more?Response to Previous SMSes*HITTING below the belt, as Minister Richard Kamwi said, is not an insult. It simply means the nurses hit him hard with words. Nothing insulting!- Windhoeker*MINISTER of Education, maybe there is a need to inform the public about what really happens at the marking venues as some people are miss-informed and feed the public incorrect information. The marking venues are open from 07h00 until 22h00. Markers are free to take breaks and start or stop at any time. No marker is forced to mark until 22h00. What are we trying to prove by spreading incorrect information to the public?- From an Experienced current marker.*I AGREE with the SMS of October 26 sent by Andrew. I feel the man on the street needs to pick himself up a notch or two and also take responsibility. Start with the children in particular. This is a great country full of opportunities for everyone.- LeonIn and from the Region*THE residents of Onamishu Eengodi constituency in Oshikoto Region have been waiting for the gravel road which is under construction to be finished. They stopped working and it is about to start raining. The road is messed up.*PLOTS and houses are too expensive in Ongwediva and Oshakati! N$900 000 for three bedroom house? N$150 000 for a plot?*ACC please investigate Usakos Town Council home committee. Someone on that committee has more than 10 erven in the same place. How is it possible while we are struggling to get a single erf?*UP to now no one has been interviewed for vacancies that were advertised in March and April. The vacancies were at Oshakati Secondary School, Uukule Secondary School, Oshigambo High School and Tsintabis Junior Secondary School. Can the ministry please tell me why?*OKATANA constituency councillor, when will we get water in Iikelo village? We are tired of empty promises. Why not get drought relief from GRN. This village is affected by the floods every year. We are not growing mahangu any more because of the floods. We are suffering. Do something this year.*THE courts in Katima Mulilo do not have the interest of Namibian people at heart. Cases are postponed for long periods and no bail is granted! Interestingly, a Chinese citizen was arrested and charged with possession of endangered animal skins, namely rhino skins. He was granted bail within one week. Namibians are in custody for six months and longer without bail for small cases like theft! Where do we draw the line of fairness? We are told to file a formal bail application, when we do it is declined for reasons unknown to us! Our families need us outside!- Concerned prisoner

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