SMSes for Thurs 8 Jan 09

* ACCORDING to The Namibian of today [Wednesday] the US and Germany are to cut taxes. If David Cameron gets in, the UK will also cut taxes. But according to the Ministry of Finance they will tax everybody on interest from March. In light of the credit crunch don’t we also want a nation of thrifty people who are to be encouraged to save? Why fine people for saving their money? Have we learnt nothing from the global crisis? What a pity!

* UNTOLD story? Our fishing sector is in a bad state and thousands of people have lost their jobs as a result. Ramatex is forever gone and over eight thousand young people cannot provide bread to their families anymore and now it is the mining sector, which is heading in the same direction. President Pohamba and his government are failing the nation big time, instead they prefer to campaign for elections which will take place later this year. Comrade Pohamba what are you planning to do to rescue the jobs for thousand of Namibians? -Kamati

Food for thought

* I THINK failing Grade 10 is planned by Government. What will happen if all pupils pass – there will be never enough places in Grade 11.

* THE Police must confiscate all illegal gambling machines all over the country. Why do they only arrest people selling drugs? Gambling is the cause of domestic violence. People commit suicide, children have no food, marriages break down, houses and cars are repossessed – all because of gambling. It’s only the rich and powerful, who benefit from gambling, driving luxury cars and living a high life, while children rot from hunger because their parents lost their hard earned cash by gambling!

* TELECOM Namibia is always sponsoring local boxing, but all I could see at the ‘Hit Man’s’ reception was South African Airways and NamPower!

Congratulations

* I SALUTE Paulus ‘Hitman’ Moses. Thanks Champ! I admire you for also telling this nation that you have been praying a lot. I noticed that you are wearing a rosary without a cross. Can anyone donate another rosary to the Champ, I’m too far away to do it myself.

Responses to your SMSes

* THE complainant of the Control Prosecutor of Katutura Magistrate’s Court not being in his office after 14h00 is a professional liar. He, the Control Prosecutor, is always in his office or in court making sure that criminals are punished. The Control Prosecutor only makes appointments with Police officers and lawyers, not with the public. The public is assisted the moment they enter his office. He, the prosecutor, is one the most understanding people within his department, if not the best.

* PLEASE let us always check and counter-check our facts before we communicate whatever message, and avoid sensational statements and reporting which may induce hatred and political violence. Regarding building of roads, please take note that there was only one road built in Omusati Region since Independence, only one, nothing more nothing less. This road starts from Oshakati through Okahao and Tsandi to Outapi, a road of 125 km length. The other road from Oshakati to Ruacana was built more than 30 years ago! So, where are the ‘more than seven roads’ in Omusati, or is it a figment of the writer’s imagination? I urge The Namibian and its readership to ‘tell it like it is’, PLEASE! Otherwise you may destroy the peace we have built for years.

Politicians’ salaries

* WHEN Mineworkers Union of Namibia and Nantu walked out of the last NUNW congress because of the fact that delegate credentials were not verified, delegates from Napwu crucified them. Look what you get from your great negotiators, 5% for those blind followers and 24% to the one-eyed kings, who can’t see the suffering of the blind followers. Who is fooling who?

* OUR President should follow the example of President Mandela when he was in office. When his Parliament opted for a salary increase he refused and insisted for the introduction of the orphan and children trust for the same amount of increase the MPs requested. That’s leadership. Most politicians’ salaries exceed the N$40 000 monthly scale.

* 24% – What a shame, while the rest of the civil servants are suffering! We Namibians easily accept everything instead of standing up for our rights.

* MINISTERS receive 24 per cent salary hike. What about soldiers and police who are safeguarding the country and those politicians, but are living on cash loans?

* SWAPO Government has lost its vision, this is true. Always the Government claims not to have money for the civil servants. We want 48 per cent as from 1 April 2009 without any delay. We are more affected by the exorbitant prices of goods than the well off class of politicians.

* LET me make myself clear here. I have been strongly bonded to the Swapo Party for about eight years, and I am still a supporting member. However, I am thinking of turning the clock around: Why should the MPs and ministers get a salary increment – because of inflation? I mean it does not make sense, because the inflation rates affect us all. In fact, it is the civil servants who are being hard hit by such conditions. Mr President, please!

* PLEASE send our leaders, not to Unam, but Polytech to do basic economics to understand the term inflation before embarrassing us with their reasoning in increasing their salaries!

* IT’S obvious that our politicians lack the understanding of basic economics and by implication underestimate our intelligence. I mean they could not have cited inflation for raising politicians’ salaries. We all live in the same economy and thus affected by the same rate of inflation, interest rate etc. The only difference is that they will have more disposable income than us – the true pillars of the economy.

War in Gaza

* IT is time for African nations, China, India etc to inform the United States of its global irrelevance. Its support of Israeli aggressive expansionism can’t be tolerated.

* PALESTINIAN civilians in the Gaza strip. I think the West can now see the real terrorists and perpetrators of crimes against humanity. -Norberto

* EGYPTIANS and Namibians have much in common, but the Namibian Government has nothing to learn from Mubarak’s kleptocracy and human rights abuses. They can’t even help their neighbouring Palestinians in Gaza, held up in an Israeli concentration camp, now a killing field on fire.

* IT is very disturbing that our Government is so fast to respond and speak out their concern about the war in Gaza, but up to date they haven’t said or done anything about the crisis in Zimbabwe. Do we need to be ‘concerned’?

Politics

* I AM a regular reader of the SMS page, and almost on a daily basis writers complain about lack of development in their areas. Why don’t you simply use your vote to get rid of the incompetent elected Government and stop complaining.

* WHY is Namibia still a basket case? Namibians see themselves as former victims of colonialism. Namibia has one of the best economies in Africa which it inherited at independence. I’ve never heard Chinese or Indian people talk about colonialism. Here every day you hear constant whining from politicians and business leaders how they were oppressed and discriminated against. When you point out that they are now in charge and ask how they could possibly be discriminated against they still whine. It’s like our Government still doesn’t believe it is running the country. The mindset is one of lacking the ownership and this need to be addressed.-Kamati

* NAMIBIA is very rich with very low population. No one is supposed to starve in Namibia, but what is happening is that the wealth of our land is only shared among many ministers and top Government officials. With a population of two million do you really need 28 ministers? Look at USA and Germany with a very high population – their ministers are less than twenty. -Makove

* THE whole thing is supposed to be a trend. Attend pre-primary, secondary and tertiary education. Get a job or self-employment. Buy a car, buy a house and get married. And if 70% of the nation is struggling to keep up with this trend, then what is the poi
nt of living. Open your eyes Namibians – we are country of two million with so many resources. I don’t see a big difference between us and the United Arab Emirates. Our leaders are failing us.

Bouquets and Brickbats

* APPRECIATION to Blue and White in Clemens Kapuuo Street. We the community of the surrounding area thank you for a work well done. You guys are doing a great job. Crime has decreased in our area, the poor are fed every Saturday, the sick are being healed there and there is peace on the street. Please municipality give them that side to build a church there now. Thanks from the community of the surrounding area.

* I SUGGEST a weekly competition to find the most useless outfit in Namibia. This week I propose the public relations department of Standard Bank. Can you believe it?

* STANDARD Bank has other problems! They should tell people what happened on the evening of December 30 that resulted in people being deducted twice for their home loans and our accounts going into overdrafts. I and a whole lot of other people queued and called at Home Loans on December 31 looking for an explanation but got none, not even an apology. What a disappointment!

* MULTICHOICE DStv, it seems you are making enough money that your call service employees get it right to be rude to customers, claiming non-payments past months, which were confirmed already. Please tell us if you don’t need customers anymore because one cannot be paying your account, paying for faxing deposit slips and calls for confirmation just to be accused after a month later that the payment was never made and you should again pay for faxes and confirmation calls.

Education

* I THINK it is the right time for all the stakeholders in education to place the child at the centre of learning. Please let us all be assured that at the foundation phase from Grade 1-4 will have specialised teachers, who are able to have give a solid foundation to younger ones and avoid Grade 10 failures. School managers please ensure that proper teaching and learning is taking place. -Ndahafa

From the regions

* THE consumer who complaint about Nored charging 10,8 units for N$10 that’s nothing. At Grootfontein Cenored is killing us, for N$10 you get 7,1 units.

* CAN the Regional Commander of Erongo Region send his Task Force members to Usakos just to conduct operation at our town. People are drinking too much in this town and Usakos Police are useless.

* COUNCILLOR of Sesfontein Constituency, the first ever thing we want from you early this year 2009 is network (cellphone) for Kowarib and Warmquelle like you did for your own village.

* IN Ariamsvlei Police are searching for people at shebeens and handcuff them, while they are off duty and under the influence of alcohol. What if the people resist arrest than they will charge and beat them. Can the Bondelswarts community leader not report this matter to the minister?

* SHELL Gobabis or Phoenix Service Station as commonly known, why do we have to pay N$1 for using your toilets? Why is this only done in Gobabis?

* CEO of Katima Mulilo Town Council shame on you! The roads in your town are in a terrible state! Potholes all over. Mr CEO stop running that town like a village. Government has, and is still pumping in millions of dollars to develop that town. The least you can do is to maintain the roads. I noted that tourism was on the rise during this season which is a positive indicator not only for Caprivi but the Namibian economy at large!

* THE gravel road between Oshigambo and Ondobe is bound to kill people very soon. Ministry of Works what’s going on?