SMSes for Thursday 19 January 2012

SMS Of The Day
*DRUG addiction has a serious impact on people’s lives and the drug dealers make millions off their ‘clients’ without giving a thought to their victims. They live a life of luxury and the victims have no life at all! Say no to drugs!

Food for Thought*THE reason we are now left in limbo on the Anti-retroviral, TB and malaria programmes is simply due to inefficiency, high-level corruption and poor planning. If it were not for those negative factors, we would have put our house in order. Most donor recipients tend to rely on donors forever without thinking that this may end one day. I fully blame our Government because we have had enough time to shape our own reliable programmes.Bouquets and Brickbats*CONGRATULATIONS to St Boniface College, Sambiyu. I think this school management deserves a national honour for their consistent excellent performance year in, year out. The Ministry of Education should organise for this school principal to be interviewed and a monthly regular programme from the St Boniface management and principal be aired on NBC. It is certainly obvious that there are things that this school is doing right that others are not doing. It is even in the rural area of Kavango about 42km away from Rundu! – Great admirer SBC, OshakatiJust what it means*CONGRATS Erongo you did it again. Teaching and learning is truly taking place. You made us all proud. Keep it up.*SINCERE congratulations to the Director of Education in Kavango Region, the teaching staff, learners and parents for exceptional improvement from top 10 to top 3 position. – Thighuru Rugharo*I THINK I’m going to cry; our elephant tusks, our rhino horns, our minerals, our people’s jobs and now our carmine bee-eaters; what else do the Chinese want and how long are we going to put up with this to fill our greedy pockets?n I HAVE been advised that it is not possible to apply for a South African identity document through the South African Embassy. Are they serious? What are they doing here then? Some feedback would be appreciated.GeneralNot East, not West – forward*NAMIBIANS let’s look forward. In his recent visit to Namibia, China’s Foreign Minister urged Namibia to look East. I urge my countrymen to look forward – not East or West. Let’s not forget that not so long ago African countries and liberation movements were mere pawns for spheres of influence during the Cold War between East and West. Watch out for neo-colonialism, be it from the West or the East. Let’s not become pawns again in their struggles for world supremacy.- Lori*IT is interesting to see the article from the archives of 1987 on Goldfields threatening half its workforce with lay-offs, while we now know that the mine actually pocketed N$116 million of these employees’ pensions with the permission of the Ministry of Finance. This type of corruption is continuing today and still the regulators are not in control of what is happening.Health Matters*I WANT to urge to Windhoek Central Hospital to please put bells in all the patients rooms. If they need a nurse’s attention, there is no way to call them. Some cannot talk or walk and families are not allowed to stay with them.Education*IT is not possible for seven of the top 10 pupils’ results to come from two obscure rural schools. There is something fishy, please investigate.*HIGHEST ever number of graded subjects? Yeah as well as lowest pass requirement ever. How is our Grade 12 certificate even worth the paper it’s printed on?*DR Iyambo please transfer the top management of the Oshana Region. Try to also employ advisory teachers for circuits in all the regions.- Teacher*IT isn’t fair for learners to go to Grade 10 if they didn’t pass? Is this how we can limit failure. Please do something here at Otsinka CS. Parents’ money is being wasted.*UNAM some students have not received reply letters up to now. What is taking so long? Who should they see concerning this?*PLEASE publish Grade 12 Higher Level results also.Note: These were released before Christmas with the Grade 10 results.- News Desk*MINISTRY of Education please do something about the Catholic Hostel in Otjiwarongo. It is unhygienic, poorly managed and lacks nutritional food. The kids eat maize meal most of the time and there is no fruit and veggies. Law and Order*IT was the Law Society of Namibia that should have acted against the attack on judges by opportunistic and ruthless lay people. Why did they not act?*JUDGE President Damaseb let the nation complain if they are unhappy with the justice system. Murderers go home smiling while stock-theft suspects get sentenced. These are some of the reasons why people have no respect for human life any longer because they know how much of a joke Namibia’s justice system has turned out to be and that they can always get away with it. How do you improve if there are no comments and complaints?In and From the Regions *HELAO Nafidi Town Council some of us don’t have electricity at Omatala and we need our own electricity boxes. We did try to apply, but after going to Nored they sent us to collect permission documents at Helao Nafidi. Some of us who have plots were told they belong to Portugal. Why doesn’t Helao Nafidi not just allow us to get our own electricity and if the owner comes, we just move with our boxes. Please allow those who can afford to pay for their electricity. *ON Wednesday, I saw some houses at Oluno Malanami in Ondangwa under water already. It is only January. What is the role of the Ondangwa Town Council? This is ridiculous in a municipal area where people pay rates and taxes.- Pluto*MINISTER of Health when will the Masida people get their clinic. Remember Masida was a hero and his people deserve to have a clinic.- Swalisano Mulonga*THUMBS up to the Outapi Town Council. Great development but just a request: fix the uneven land that holds water during the rainy season.*ONGWEDIVA Town Council is reluctant to do something about potholes and puddles in the streets where we have to cross. Kids are playing in those ponds near the Ongwediva Clinic and the school gate in East Street. It is dangerous. We reported it many times but have had no response.*TIRED of Lunga-litapulas. I have been watching the Government crop field at Omutsegonime with keen interest to see if any public project takes place but the situation unfolded differently. Some Government high ups resettled themselves in this field. Now I’m concerned with these typical leaders. What example are they setting? Why was the field not given for youth projects to generate income. Please Lunga-litapula think about bettering the Namibian nation. NBC*HOW can we pay our TV licences if we don’t have account numbers? At the Outapi Post Office they are telling us to fax serial numbers to NBC. Why can’t they fax and get us our account numbers?Service Please*WOERMANN Brock Soweto please give your staff customer care training or get rid of the ones without manners.- Angry customer*SHOPRITE Walvis Bay must hire cashiers with experience in teller work. I am tired of getting short-changed!- Mrs SwartsResponses to recent SMSesBelong to their owners*TVs are not bought from NBC so there’s no way they can confiscate anybody’s TV. They should just do something to improve their programmes.*INVITATION to the person perturbed by foreigners in Namibia to come to Osire and experience what a refugee camp is all about. Some view all Nigerians, Angolans etc as threats and refugees. Osire is not a detention centre like the American Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Refugees have a right to legalised freedom of movement, worship, work etc in a host nation which is a signatory to United Nations and African Union conventions on refugees. Jesus was a refugee. Members of Swapo, while in the Frontline States were never detained during their struggle against the injustices of apartheid. The building blocks of successful economies such as the USA, Australia, South Africa have been and still are foreigners. Refugees, foreigners should not be used as scapegoats for one’s failure in life.- L Godfrey, Osire.*I TOTALLY agree with the SMS about the security at Woermann Brock in Tsumeb. My wife was treated like a criminal and hooligan and when she was proven not guilty, there was no apology.