SMSes of the Day : Friday

* TO the Chairperson of GIPF: As it is, despondency is rife among teachers and your fund adds to our sorrows. It seems like the GIPF’s investment portfolio is either stagnating or declining, the latter being the most likely. Six years ago my total accumulated pension after 13 years of teaching was N$169 000. Today this amount is only N$254 000. In contrast to these figures a good investment at the very least doubles in value every 5 years. What is happening at GIPF? Are we now paying the price for all the failed BEE Projects financed by the GIPF? Please answer!

* THE Rundu ambulance was stripped of two wheels by Namibians. Nobody saw this happening and everybody is going to blame the Government for poor health services. My people, let’s report crime. If we don’t we are digging our own graves!! * NEVER in the history of this country had the old saying ‘a bad workman blames his tools’ had more meaning than it has today. Former President Sam Nujoma blames HH for the failure of some institutions! He was the captain of the ship! – Makbright, Arandis* INTERCAPE MainLiner has more than doubled their prices to various places in RSA for December! Since we have no other option for certain routes we have to cough up. I know this is a free-market economy, but this is daylight robbery!Food for thought* LET me express my disappointment in our mighty Swapo’s entire leadership as they always remind us how Namibia is a rich country, being one of the world’s main exporters of mineral products. My question is for how long will we hear the same song that “the country should embark on manufacturing and value addition to natural resources to manufacture products for local consumption and export”. Who is responsible for adding value and when will it be? In the past 17 years the rich became richer and the poor poorer. The miners are being exploited by foreign companies, while politicians are smiling.* THE ACC must not only target school secretaries but also some school principals who use the property of the schools for personal gain. The ministry must investigate how capital projects financed with school funds at some schools are awarded and find out if any self-enrichment is involved.* WE community members should stop throwing stones at the Police. It’s a community member who gave that saw to one of those inmates. Now you say the Police are pathetically incompetent. Sorry comrade, the Police are excellent at their work and we assist the criminals in their activities. Viva the Police!About SMSes* IT surprises me that a respected newspaper like The Namibian publishes all SMSes received regardless their content. How can unproven, anonymous personal attacks on people who can’t even defend themselves be published? Remember: Every story has two sides. There must be some kind of measurement to prevent this kind of attacks. – Dear reader, thank you for your response. We by no means publish all the SMSes we receive. The Namibian is very conscious that some individuals try and use the SMS platform for unsubstantiated personal attacks on others. Unless it is a person holding public office and the issue is of public interest, we don’t publish the names of people, or in many cases, the SMS. Where individuals or companies are accused of misdoing, we try and follow up as many of these as possible as news reports. We are very conscious of the unproven attack aspect. It would be helpful if you can be more specific and refer to particular messages in which anonymous personal attacks were made on individuals. – Newsdesk* NFA and the coach Note from the newsdesk. Please note that the coach has denied that he told The Namibian that he resigned as Brave Warriors coach. However, The Namibian and the reporter in question stand by the story.* THE NFA has made a very tragic mistake for the national team coach Bamfuchile to resign. How on earth can you expect a national coach to fulfil his duties using a taxi? I also wonder if the coach also have enough security and after securing us a place in the African nations cup to Ghana. What a shame. – Bisa* AFTER what Ben did for this country, I can’t believe the NFA treated him like a peasant. Muinjo and his team should be ashamed of themselves. I’m afraid the team will simply be making up the numbers come Accra next year.* NFA is a disgrace to Namibia, considering the treatment they meted out to Coach Bamfuchile. And please do not come up with lame excuses that do not hold any water. Ministry of Youth and Sport, please get rid of incompetent NFA officials. NFA officials please quit! It seems you are only in it to line your pockets by sitting in soft chairs and feeling you are important, while not even raising your little fingers in order to do a stitch of work!* NFA should respect the coach, because he is the one who made it possible for us to qualify for Ghana 2008, taking the team to the next level. Qualification for the African Cup of Nations is what he had been hoping for long.* ARE we going to allow individuals like Barry Rukoro to lead our football? Imagine, this guy is intending to be the next CEO at the Soccer House. The ACC should probe this House. Namibians have been taken too long for fools. Bamfuchile has been too patient to work under those harsh conditions. What message are we sending to FIFA? Fill the vacant CEO post now, or is it reserved for Barry? How long should one act in a post?* BEN Bamfuchile, thanks a lot for job well done. I’m just sad to learn that you could not even save up for a second-hand car with your pay cheque. Africans like getting things for free. – Tanga* NFA Leaders, Barry and his President Muinjo is putting the association in problems. First it was the medical board and now Bamfuchile. When will someone take Barry Rukoro to task, as his performance in the Acting CEO position had not been up to scratch. We need real leaders in our football and not the kind we have currently.* THE NFA mess is once again in the open. NFA administrators have no clue about the word professionalism. It’s about time that the whole NFA administrators are FIRED. How is it possible that we are losing such a good coach? – Blaz* SHAME! Coach Ben and his boys made the country proud and an incompetent NFA team look good. And this is how you pay him back. Do us a favour and resign as well.* COACH Bamfuchile has a reason to quit. For him to work to his fullest potential he needs good working conditions. – Belvana* THAT’S the way to go Comrade Bamfuchile! Let us all stand up, because we all deserve to be chauffeured to work. New Year’s resolution: Boss, give me a limo.Politics in general* IF the ‘Omusati clique’ exists, then surely there is also an ‘Ohangwena clique’. The so called Omusati clique is truly a people representative for the tribes in Omusati: Kwanyama, Kwambi, Mbandja, Mbalantu, Ngandjera, Kwaluudhi, Zemba, Kolonkadhi, Tjimba and the lovely San people, all having a corporate purpose – peace and unity in diversity. There is interest of people’s wellbeing at heart. That’s what a multicultural society Omusati is and (how it) operates. No individualism and self-centred money-oriented tribalism!* TO those who want HH to answer to allegations of corruption take him to any competent court. I think he will be ready to defend himself together with his co-accused. Allegations remain as such until proven otherwise. I do not buy cheap politics.Who has not failed us? If politics was soccer I would fire Mr Nujoma for selecting incompetent players. Do not blame HH for something he never did. Take him to court, he is still around.* NO need to talk too much. The ballot box will have the answer. The Holy Book of God tells us there is time to sow seeds and there is a time to harvest. – Maria* SOUTHERN African leaders why do you close your eyes on the Zimbabwe crisis? Our fellow brothers and sisters in that country are starving. I want to urge Zimbabweans to keep praying to God to remove that power-hungry Mugabe from power.* PLEASE Mr HH stop fooling the nation that you will provide everything which presently lacks for the nation once you get to power. That’s not how the economics work comrade! You need to go back to school and study more about economics, because it’s like you are planning to weakening the country economics. – L FransPolitics in general* IT is childish, yet amusing what’s going on in the Swapo Party leadership as they urged to fight, warning or to guard against tribalism, regionalism and individualism. Now my question is how can you start something and some of you all benefited and now seeing others want to emulate, you want them to copy from you.* SINCE Mr HH is a transparent leader, as they claim, can he come clean on why he was fired by the former President?* SWAPO betrayed the spirit of those who sacrificed for this country because of sidelining true patriots, name calling and enriching themselves. RDP welcome, revive the true spirit of comradeship and honour those who sacrificed we are behind you. – Rachel, Windhoek* WHY are some people only concerned about what RDP will bring? My simple advice: give them your vote in 2009 then you will see. Namibians respect the Constitution. If you do not understand politics, please leave it out. It is nowhere written that the only person who knows what is good for Namibia is former President Nujoma. If HH was corrupt then the entire Swapo leadership is. Do not throw stones if you live in a glass house. – TH, Onayena* LET me congratulate the man of the people, the revolutionary and innovative leader for not being power hungry. I thank you for trying to modernise and revolutionalise the public service. I know you are thinking ahead in this struggle of economic development. Unfortunately you fell victim to immature and selfish politicians, who have got no good reputation. They want to fail this country as they had failed their personal lives. They can sideline you, but your ideas will live. May God bless you, PM.From the regions* I AM a farmer in the Kunene, to be specific in the Opuwo area. I heard the good news of water taps to be opened because of drought. But we don’t have pipelines like our neighbours in the four north-central regions. We are buying our diesel to pump water for our animals. As drought assistance to us the Government should provide us with free diesel so that we can also benefit like our counterparts in the other regions. – Patient citizen* THIS is the third time wild animals, specifically leopards, have been killing our goats in Ohalushu, Ohangwena region. Please, nature conservation, come and help us. This week the leopards again attacked five goats, which means we have nothing left for the festive season! Please can someone help! – Haule waKambatima.* THE Karasburg Councillor is doing nothing for Aussenkehr. The statement he released in the media was not true. The over 10 000 people in the Aussenkehr community live in reed huts without latrines and clean drinking water and a clinic. He is a liability to the Government, he should resign from his post. – Aussenkehr Community Activist* I AM a community member of Tsumkwe concerned about the lack of electric power lines. Since Independence we are using a generator for electricity. When will we also develop like other places with electricity from NamPower or Cenored? We are sick and tired of struggling like this after 17 years of Independence.* HONOURABLE Governor of Ohangwena region, Usko Nghaanwa, must please consider finding an amicable solution to the problem of water in Omungholyo village in his constituency and not only direct all benefits to Onheleiwa village. We are totally fed up now. These water pipes have been under the ground since 2003, without any tap erected and opened. At the end of the day he will be worried if we join the RDP. He must wake up and stop being incompetent!* NAMDEB, do something about accommodation for new employees. How can a person with C2 grade live in small room? We stay in a place called Welwitschia Village with contract workers. Please help us, we deserve better. Do something, as you promised us flats at Bedsitters before we came here. – Namdeb artisanEducation* LET us not boast or insult others for getting their entry-level marks through NAMCOL. Some people got poor marks in Grade 12 because of different reasons. Entry-level requirements are too high, leaving many people on the streets. Fact is quality of education in Zimbabwe and RSA is higher than ours.* HOW will the Ministry of Education improve education? I think teachers are overloaded with work, e.g. lesson planning, teaching, preparing activities, setting test and exams and marking etc. That is too much for one person. My proposal is this, why doesn’t the Ministry of Education apply the same system to all the phases that write the exam like what is being done at Grade 10 and 12 at the end of the year. Here I mean there must be two teachers for each subject, for instance a teacher for teaching and the other one for planning and designing activities and marking. I think this will improve our teaching, as long as they are at one school, using the same syllabus and scheme. – Concerned teacher, Oshikoto* CONSIDERING many of the SMSes on education, specifically issues and complaints on teaching, one would deduce that many of the complaints are made by teachers and those who lack or have limited understanding of the art of teaching and scientific strategies of learning. For example introducing a revised curriculum requires no specific ‘new’ textbooks to implement it, as Imms from Ogongo wants us to believe, BUT revised syllabi. It also requires a professional teacher experienced not in numbers of years but level of competency.* A textbook is but one of many teaching aids a teacher may use to facilitate learning. Many of these nagging and whining teachers are incompetent in implementing educational programmes and never give constructive proposals. Most of them joined the profession due to lenient admission and assessment criteria in colleges.* I’M a concerned parent in Oshakati, who does not understand why our kids are not admitted to the hostel for next year, my child is one of the kids who was suspended from the hostel this year and they were punished to stay out of the hostel for about a month and few weeks, and now the school can no longer take them back into the hostel! Are the teachers at Mweshipandeka giving our kids a death penalty? Why should they be punished twice?* I AM a Polytech student. I would like to request that the management consider providing B-Modules in the first term. We are a lot of students who wrote Taxation 3A and other A-Modules with the second opportunity exams in November. I request that others and I might have only one, two or three B-Modules before finishing with the degree course. It will be a waste of time to wait for a full term without touching books. I really humbly request for any module to be provided in any term if the total students to register for a module can justify that. I hope to hear/see a response from the management of Poly and the SRC.* NEVER in the history of this country had the old saying ‘a bad workman blames his tools’ had more meaning than it has today. Former President Sam Nujoma blames HH for the failure of some institutions! He was the captain of the ship! – Makbright, Arandis * INTERCAPE MainLiner has more than doubled their prices to various places in RSA for December! Since we have no other option for certain routes we have to cough up. I know this is a free-market economy, but this is daylight robbery! Food for thought * LET me express my disappointment in our mighty Swapo’s entire leadership as they always remind us how Namibia is a rich country, being one of the world’s main exporters of mineral products. My question is for how long will we hear the same song that “the country should embark on manufacturing and value addition to natural resources to manufacture products for local consumption and export”. Who is responsible for adding value and when will it be? In the past 17 years the rich became richer and the poor poorer. The miners are being exploited by foreign companies, while politicians are smiling.* THE ACC must not only target school secretaries but also some school principals who use the property of the schools for personal gain. The ministry must investigate how capital projects financed with school funds at some schools are awarded and find out if any self-enrichment is involved.* WE community members should stop throwing stones at the Police. It’s a community member who gave that saw to one of those inmates. Now you say the Police are pathetically incompetent. Sorry comrade, the Police are excellent at their work and we assist the criminals in their activities. Viva the Police! About SMSes * IT surprises me that a respected newspaper like The Namibian publishes all SMSes received regardless their content. How can unproven, anonymous personal attacks on people who can’t even defend themselves be published? Remember: Every story has two sides. There must be some kind of measurement to prevent this kind of attacks. – Dear reader, thank you for your response. We by no means publish all the SMSes we receive. The Namibian is very conscious that some individuals try and use the SMS platform for unsubstantiated personal attacks on others. Unless it is a person holding public office and the issue is of public interest, we don’t publish the names of people, or in many cases, the SMS. Where individuals or companies are accused of misdoing, we try and follow up as many of these as possible as news reports. We are very conscious of the unproven attack aspect. It would be helpful if you can be more specific and refer to particular messages in which anonymous personal attacks were made on individuals. – Newsdesk * NFA and the coach Note from the newsdesk. Please note that the coach has denied that he told The Namibian that he resigned as Brave Warriors coach. However, The Namibian and the reporter in question stand by the story.* THE NFA has made a very tragic mistake for the national team coach Bamfuchile to resign. How on earth can you expect a national coach to fulfil his duties using a taxi? I also wonder if the coach also have enough security and after securing us a place in the African nations cup to Ghana. What a shame. – Bisa * AFTER what Ben did for this country, I can’t believe the NFA treated him like a peasant. Muinjo and his team should be ashamed of themselves. I’m afraid the team will simply be making up the numbers come Accra next year.* NFA is a disgrace to Namibia, considering the treatment they meted out to Coach Bamfuchile. And please do not come up with lame excuses that do not hold any water. Ministry of Youth and Sport, please get rid of incompetent NFA officials. NFA officials please quit! It seems you are only in it to line your pockets by sitting in soft chairs and feeling you are important, while not even raising your little fingers in order to do a stitch of work! * NFA should respect the coach, because he is the one who made it possible for us to qualify for Ghana 2008, taking the team to the next level. Qualification for the African Cup of Nations is what he had been hoping for long.* ARE we going to allow individuals like Barry Rukoro to lead our football? Imagine, this guy is intending to be the next CEO at the Soccer House. The ACC should probe this House. Namibians have been taken too long for fools. Bamfuchile has been too patient to work under those harsh conditions. What message are we sending to FIFA? Fill the vacant CEO post now, or is it reserved for Barry? How long should one act in a post? * BEN Bamfuchile, thanks a lot for job well done. I’m just sad to learn that you could not even save up for a second-hand car with your pay cheque. Africans like getting things for free. – Tanga * NFA Leaders, Barry and his President Muinjo is putting the association in problems. First it was the medical board and now Bamfuchile. When will someone take Barry Rukoro to task, as his performance in the Acting CEO position had not been up to scratch. We need real leaders in our football and not the kind we have currently.* THE NFA mess is once again in the open. NFA administrators have no clue about the word professionalism. It’s about time that the whole NFA administrators are FIRED. How is it possible that we are losing such a good coach? – Blaz * SHAME! Coach Ben and his boys made the country proud and an incompetent NFA team look good. And this is how you pay him back. Do us a favour and resign as well.* COACH Bamfuchile has a reason to quit. For him to work to his fullest potential he needs good working conditions. – Belvana * THAT’S the way to go Comrade Bamfuchile! Let us all stand up, because we all deserve to be chauffeured to work. New Year’s resolution: Boss, give me a limo.Politics in general * IF the ‘Omusati clique’ exists, then surely there is also an ‘Ohangwena clique’. The so called Omusati clique is truly a people representative for the tribes in Omusati: Kwanyama, Kwambi, Mbandja, Mbalantu, Ngandjera, Kwaluudhi, Zemba, Kolonkadhi, Tjimba and the lovely San people, all having a corporate purpose – peace and unity in diversity. There is interest of people’s wellbeing at heart. That’s what a multicultural society Omusati is and (how it) operates. No individualism and self-centred money-oriented tribalism! * TO those who want HH to answer to allegations of corruption take him to any competent court. I think he will be ready to defend himself together with his co-accused. Allegations remain as such until proven otherwise. I do not buy cheap politics.Who has not failed us? If politics was soccer I would fire Mr Nujoma for selecting incompetent players. Do not blame HH for something he never did. Take him to court, he is still around.* NO need to talk too much. The ballot box will have the answer. The Holy Book of God tells us there is time to sow seeds and there is a time to harvest. – Maria * SOUTHERN African leaders why do you close your eyes on the Zimbabwe crisis? Our fellow brothers and sisters in that country are starving. I want to urge Zimbabweans to keep praying to God to remove that power-hungry Mugabe from power.* PLEASE Mr HH stop fooling the nation that you will provide everything which presently lacks for the nation once you get to power. That’s not how the economics work comrade! You need to go back to school and study more about economics, because it’s like you are planning to weakening the country economics. – L Frans Politics in general * IT is childish, yet amusing what’s going on in the Swapo Party leadership as they urged to fight, warning or to guard against tribalism, regionalism and individualism. Now my question is how can you start something and some of you all benefited and now seeing others want to emulate, you want them to copy from you.* SINCE Mr HH is a transparent leader, as they claim, can he come clean on why he was fired by the former President? * SWAPO betrayed the spirit of those who sacrificed for this country because of sidelining true patriots, name calling and enriching themselves. RDP welcome, revive the true spirit of comradeship and honour those who sacrificed we are behind you. – Rachel, Windhoek * WHY are some people only concerned about what RDP will bring? My simple advice: give them your vote in 2009 then you will see. Namibians respect the Constitution. If you do not understand politics, please leave it out. It is nowhere written that the only person who knows what is good for Namibia is former President Nujoma. If HH was corrupt then the entire Swapo leadership is. Do not throw stones if you live in a glass house. – TH, Onayena * LET me congratulate the man of the people, the revolutionary and innovative leader for not being power hungry. I thank you for trying to modernise and revolutionalise the public service. I know you are thinking ahead in this struggle of economic development. Unfortunately you fell victim to immature and selfish politicians, who have got no good reputation. They want to fail this country as they had failed their personal lives. They can sideline you, but your ideas will live. May God bless you, PM.From the regions * I AM a farmer in the Kunene, to be specific in the Opuwo area. I heard the good news of water taps to be opened because of drought. But we don’t have pipelines like our neighbours in the four north-central regions. We are buying our diesel to pump water for our animals. As drought assistance to us the Government should provide us with free diesel so that we can also benefit like our counterparts in the other regions. – Patient citizen * THIS is the third time wild animals, specifically leopards, have been killing our goats in Ohalushu, Ohangwena region. Please, nature conservation, come and help us. This week the leopards again attacked five goats, which means we have nothing left for the festive season! Please can someone help! – Haule waKambatima.* THE Karasburg Councillor is doing nothing for Aussenkehr. The statement he released in the media was not true. The over 10 000 people in the Aussenkehr community live in reed huts without latrines and clean drinking water and a clinic. He is a liability to the Government, he should resign from his post. – Aussenkehr Community Activist * I AM a community member of Tsumkwe concerned about the lack of electric power lines. Since Independence we are using a generator for electricity. When will we also develop like other places with electricity from NamPower or Cenored? We are sick and tired of struggling like this after 17 years of Independence.* HONOURABLE Governor of Ohangwena region, Usko Nghaanwa, must please consider finding an amicable solution to the problem of water in Omungholyo village in his constituency and not only direct all benefits to Onheleiwa village. We are totally fed up now. These water pipes have been under the ground since 2003, without any tap erected and opened. At the end of the day he will be worried if we join the RDP. He must wake up and stop being incompetent! * NAMDEB, do something about accommodation for new employees. How can a person with C2 grade live in small room? We stay in a place called Welwitschia Village with contract workers. Please help us, we deserve better. Do something, as you promised us flats at Bedsitters before we came here. – Namdeb artisan Education * LET us not boast or insult others for getting their entry-level marks through NAMCOL. Some people got poor marks in Grade 12 because of different reasons. Entry-level requirements are too high, leaving many people on the streets. Fact is quality of education in Zimbabwe and RSA is higher than ours.* HOW will the Ministry of Education improve education? I think teachers are overloaded with work, e.g. lesson planning, teaching, preparing activities, setting test and exams and marking etc. That is too much for one person. My proposal is this, why doesn’t the Ministry of Education apply the same system to all the phases that write the exam like what is being done at Grade 10 and 12 at the end of the year. Here I mean there must be two teachers for each subject, for instance a teacher for teaching and the other one for planning and designing activities and marking. I think this will improve our teaching, as long as they are at one school, using the same syllabus and scheme. – Concerned teacher, Oshikoto * CONSIDERING many of the SMSes on education, specifically issues and complaints on teaching, one would deduce that many of the complaints are made by teachers and those who lack or have limited understanding of the art of teaching and scientific strategies of learning. For example introducing a revised curriculum requires no specific ‘new’ textbooks to implement it, as Imms from Ogongo wants us to believe, BUT revised syllabi. It also requires a professional teacher experienced not in numbers of years but level of competency.* A textbook is but one of many teaching aids a teacher may use to facilitate learning. Many of these nagging and whining teachers are incompetent in implementing educational programmes and never give constructive proposals. Most of them joined the profession due to lenient admission and assessment criteria in colleges.* I’M a concerned parent in Oshakati, who does not understand why our kids are not admitted to the hostel for next year, my child is one of the kids who was suspended from the hostel this year and they were punished to stay out of the hostel for about a month and few weeks, and now the school can no longer take them back into the hostel! Are the teachers at Mweshipandeka giving our kids a death penalty? Why should they be punished twice? * I AM a Polytech student. I would like to request that the management consider providing B-Modules in the first term. We are a lot of students who wrote Taxation 3A and other A-Modules with the second opportunity exams in November. I request that others and I might have only one, two or three B-Modules before finishing with the degree course. It will be a waste of time to wait for a full term without touching books. I really humbly request for any module to be provided in any term if the total students to register for a module can justify that. I hope to hear/see a response from the management of Poly and the SRC.