SMSes of the Day : Thursday

* DEAR Government, will the Independence Memorial Museum feed the poor, upgrade schools, pay teachers’ salaries or provide better healthcare? I think not. You are polluting our country with unnecessary junk and wasting our money on yet another monument that won’t benefit us. Trying to erase the past won’t build a stronger country or feed its people. Come on! Try to think further than the length of your noses!

* FELLOW drivers, we are not idiots. When asked to dim your lights, don’t flick your spotlights on and off or wait until you are near the oncoming traffic to dim your lights. The fact is that your bright lights can easily be the cause of an accident which could involve you. Food for Thought* NDF gets specialised condoms? It sounds good, but will not be effective because there is no ‘Family Advocacy Programme’ in the NDF. A married soldier in the NDF can be posted or transferred without considering his or her family, and that is why most of them are heavily engaged in extra-marital relationships. Do research on this and you will be surprised.* YEAR in and out the national Budget is delayed. The Ministry of Finance reads the Budget in February and debates it in March, so that it is out in April. Up to now in the middle of June, there is no budget. President, where is the efficiency?* NORTHERN Rail is no “white elephant”. Mr Smit, you’ve listed contributions of millions of dollars from different banks and funds. With that amount, why was the nation requested to volunteer for the railway? As this money has never been used, who can tell the nation where it is kept today and its future plans.In And From The Regions* WE want our taps to be opened at Okatope village in the Ohangwena Region because we have already applied and paid for it since June last year. We even put the pipes in the ground. Please honourable councillor of Ohangwena Region, help us in this mater because we are drinking dirty water which is not healthy for us. – Ndakondja* I WOULD like the Municipality of Walvis Bay to reconsider erecting gates on roads where they intersect with the railway. I think this will contribute towards reducing accidents which involve trains. – MaripurwakwaniBouquets and Brickbats* WITH due respect I can’t help thinking that the National Council, the house of review, debates issues of concern better than the National Assembly. Maybe we should change the law to swap their functions. We will do better as a country. NC keep it up.* PLEASE allow me to thank the legal advisor at Lawsure for all her help and patience. We all appreciate it. Also the rest of the staff. Thank you!* NEDBANK Eenhana is a total disaster! They need training! They don’t know what they are doing. Service is bad and clients’ time is wasted.Price Pains* UP up up . It’s now four times that fuel has been increased. How many times must the taxi fares be increased in a year? No specific time goes together with fuel increases. Nabta must adjust the taxi fares. Fuel is expensive and parts for cars became expensive due to the fuel increases. If you have N$50 you will only get 4 litres countrywide. Nabta must save our taxi businesses.* THE price of food is getting out of hand and who are the people affected, the poor who had been struggling to buy food before the price food increased! Now a heavy load is put on their shoulders. One wonders: do people who determine these prices know what it is like to sleep on an empty stomach? – DAZGeneral* ZIMBABWE has now signed an agreement with Namibia to lease land within the port of Walvis Bay. I wonder if this has anything to do with the infamous ship with arms from China. If it is to avoid ‘problems’ such as they experienced with that ship, then what a smart move by them! To that I will use the popular Namibia phrase: ‘hou op’! Let’s hope I am wrong! – TK, Windhoek* IF there is anybody who doubted that parastatals are used as cash cows by some individuals, the latest revelations at the MVA fund and NamPort have settled the matter. That well-paid senior managers and now also board members are the recipients of huge payouts, is hugely demoralising to hardworking staff. That GRN is mum on the issue is also very worrying.* AFTER that pregnant woman lied to the nation about a kidnap ordeal, we should wonder how many are doing this to discredit Namibia as a safe place? – Cleo, Luederitz* THE GRN should start appointing people who understand administration at levels from deputy director and above. We have a problem with the people from the private sector as they don’t understand the working of the GRN and undermine their juniors who know the job better than them. This should be stopped as it badly affects service delivery and staff morale. Stocktaking is the most affected as they cut the days and people have to rush things and can’t do it right.* DRIVING on the motorway with a very small child standing up on the passenger seat on Tuesday, June 10! Are you mad or stupid or just a very unimaginative parent? Brain damage is for life.* SOME people complain about childbirths and in fact argue that tax be paid for these children. Well, do you know that most children are taken care of by women and that most men need prosecution before stepping up to the plate. We must be careful not to be causing women more stigma and hardship. In fact it is society which should help them by paying more tax for welfare and making prosecution more efficient. I’m a man, but let’s go after men and not women and children.Xenophobia* THE xenophobia in South Africa should be condemned. There should be a national protest against these hostilities because it negatively affects our economy in particular the tourism sector. South Africa is insensitive to the problematic economic and political circumstances in other African countries and they forgot that their freedom fighters were accommodated in these countries during the anti-apartheid struggle.That Memorial* WHAT’S the use of complaining about a man on a horse, my people? They are going to move him and build an unnecessary building anyway. Look at the new State House, the people complained and still they built it. So its no use complaining. They all fall on deaf ears anyway. The people will die of hunger but the Government will just keep on building … – Marley, Walvis Bay* THE money that will be used for that memorial museum should rather be utilised to buy computers and proper equipment for Government ministries and schools.* WHY must the Reiter monument be moved? And yet again our Government is employing Koreans, not Namibians, to build their memorial!* TO exchange the (Reiterdenkmal) statue is understandable but why build a museum for $8m when the Alte Feste is crying out for new exhibits? Give the $8m to the people for schools and hospitals, they’re not asking for a museum. Please don’t spoil this historical site with a North Korean building!* THE reported use of Korean architects to design a planned Independence Museum is both scandalous and an insult to Namibia’s very skilled and talented indigenous architects. Please, Government, reconsider! We do not want another piece of kitsch Stalinist architectural propaganda in our country! Our own architects will be able to do much better, in our own unique Namibian style.* CITY icon? More like a ‘City of Shame’ Instead of that statue being moved, it should be demolished. Doesn’t anyone know the shame that that statue stands for? The Ovahereros and the Namas were wiped out, yet it is glorified! It represents brutality.* HOW can the Government budget N$8m for a memorial museum while there are not enough classes for our children – the nation’s future. They said the lack of places in school at the beginning of the year was a national disaster. Teachers had to accept afternoon classes and we are sitting with 47 learners and more in a class. Vision 2030 will never be reached. Education will fail because decision makers just think about the glory of the past while neglecting our future. – PriscillaDisconnections* BOB Kandetu, the Ruacana community is not watching TV.* NBC please, we are suffering here at Mariental, just because we don’t have One Africa TV. Please do something.* THE NBC radio Damara/Nama service is not broadcast at Oranjemund. Why? Damara/Nama radio service head please do something. – Concerned liserner* REALLY the Uefa 2008 had kicked off without any single live match or official opening broadcast on NBC or One Africa.* WHY must I pay my TV licence if TV programmes like ‘The Apprentice’ and movies like ‘Red Barn’ are repeated five times. Is it the right thing to do?Health Cares* MALE counterparts involved in organisations, fighting against the spread of HIV and AIDS, are sleeping around, especially in the Erongo Region. Please live by example, you are fooling the nation!* IS the MoHSS aware that nurses with a degree did seven years of study? Why are they only paid for three or four years of study? Please minister, we need to be motivated in the profession, not to be demoralised.* BEWARE! Not only HIV is transmitted via unprotected sex, but also hepatitis B and herpes infections. The worst is that these two infections are also transmitted through saliva. It was a terrible discovery to make!Education* I AM a student of Nangolo Senior Secondaru School at Ondangwa. We are being threatened by our teachers to wear only the school jersey. Some of our parents can’t afford the school jersey. Could the Minister of Education please do something.* I THINK the Ministry of Education should look at or find the Grade 12s who completed school between 2000 and 2005, and who qualified for tertiary education and who are still not admitted, at least to be admitted first. We keep on applying but sometimes we are disqualified. There is no more money for Namcol.Labour Matters* DOES the ACC also deal with the misuse of public servants by their employer? If so please deal with Director X who is delegating his staff to perform work after hours, during weekends and lunch hours without pay, with Director Y who uses Mr B as a personal assistant, whilst he was appointed as a chief control clerk and is swamped with duties of these two positions but gets paid only for his rightful position. Also deal with the people who delay or withhold S&T payments resulting in staff catering for themselves while away on official duty, when training in some divisions is for an elite few who are at head offices, when training monies are sacrificed for other expenses. GRN must not misuse its employees just as they do not want them to misuse GRN property. If you are working with underpaid, frustrated and untrained staff, you will never get good results.Food for Thought * NDF gets specialised condoms? It sounds good, but will not be effective because there is no ‘Family Advocacy Programme’ in the NDF. A married soldier in the NDF can be posted or transferred without considering his or her family, and that is why most of them are heavily engaged in extra-marital relationships. Do research on this and you will be surprised.* YEAR in and out the national Budget is delayed. The Ministry of Finance reads the Budget in February and debates it in March, so that it is out in April. Up to now in the middle of June, there is no budget. President, where is the efficiency? * NORTHERN Rail is no “white elephant”. Mr Smit, you’ve listed contributions of millions of dollars from different banks and funds. With that amount, why was the nation requested to volunteer for the railway? As this money has never been used, who can tell the nation where it is kept today and its future plans.In And From The Regions * WE want our taps to be opened at Okatope village in the Ohangwena Region because we have already applied and paid for it since June last year. We even put the pipes in the ground. Please honourable councillor of Ohangwena Region, help us in this mater because we are drinking dirty water which is not healthy for us. – Ndakondja * I WOULD like the Municipality of Walvis Bay to reconsider erecting gates on roads where they intersect with the railway. I think this will contribute towards reducing accidents which involve trains. – Maripurwakwani Bouquets and Brickbats * WITH due respect I can’t help thinking that the National Council, the house of review, debates issues of concern better than the National Assembly. Maybe we should change the law to swap their functions. We will do better as a country. NC keep it up.* PLEASE allow me to thank the legal advisor at Lawsure for all her help and patience. We all appreciate it. Also the rest of the staff. Thank you! * NEDBANK Eenhana is a total disaster! They need training! They don’t know what they are doing. Service is bad and clients’ time is wasted. Price Pains * UP up up . It’s now four times that fuel has been increased. How many times must the taxi fares be increased in a year? No specific time goes together with fuel increases. Nabta must adjust the taxi fares. Fuel is expensive and parts for cars became expensive due to the fuel increases. If you have N$50 you will only get 4 litres countrywide. Nabta must save our taxi businesses.* THE price of food is getting out of hand and who are the people affected, the poor who had been struggling to buy food before the price food increased! Now a heavy load is put on their shoulders. One wonders: do people who determine these prices know what it is like to sleep on an empty stomach? – DAZ General * ZIMBABWE has now signed an agreement with Namibia to lease land within the port of Walvis Bay. I wonder if this has anything to do with the infamous ship with arms from China. If it is to avoid ‘problems’ such as they experienced with that ship, then what a smart move by them! To that I will use the popular Namibia phrase: ‘hou op’! Let’s hope I am wrong! – TK, Windhoek * IF there is anybody who doubted that parastatals are used as cash cows by some individuals, the latest revelations at the MVA fund and NamPort have settled the matter. That well-paid senior managers and now also board members are the recipients of huge payouts, is hugely demoralising to hardworking staff. That GRN is mum on the issue is also very worrying.* AFTER that pregnant woman lied to the nation about a kidnap ordeal, we should wonder how many are doing this to discredit Namibia as a safe place? – Cleo, Luederitz * THE GRN should start appointing people who understand administration at levels from deputy director and above. We have a problem with the people from the private sector as they don’t understand the working of the GRN and undermine their juniors who know the job better than them. This should be stopped as it badly affects service delivery and staff morale. Stocktaking is the most affected as they cut the days and people have to rush things and can’t do it right.* DRIVING on the motorway with a very small child standing up on the passenger seat on Tuesday, June 10! Are you mad or stupid or just a very unimaginative parent? Brain damage is for life.* SOME people complain about childbirths and in fact argue that tax be paid for these children. Well, do you know that most children are taken care of by women and that most men need prosecution before stepping up to the plate. We must be careful not to be causing women more stigma and hardship. In fact it is society which should help them by paying more tax for welfare and making prosecution more efficient. I’m a man, but let’s go after men and not women and children.Xenophobia * THE xenophobia in South Africa should be condemned. There should be a national protest against these hostilities because it negatively affects our economy in particular the tourism sector. South Africa is insensitive to the problematic economic and political circumstances in other African countries and they forgot that their freedom fighters were accommodated in these countries during the anti-apartheid struggle.That Memorial * WHAT’S the use of complaining about a man on a horse, my people? They are going to move him and build an unnecessary building anyway. Look at the new State House, the people complained and still they built it. So its no use complaining. They all fall on deaf ears anyway. The people will die of hunger but the Government will just keep on building … – Marley, Walvis Bay * THE money that will be used for that memorial museum should rather be utilised to buy computers and proper equipment for Government ministries and schools.* WHY must the Reiter monument be moved? And yet again our Government is employing Koreans, not Namibians, to build their memorial! * TO exchange the (Reiterdenkmal) statue is understandable but why build a museum for $8m when the Alte Feste is crying out for new exhibits? Give the $8m to the people for schools and hospitals, they’re not asking for a museum. Please don’t spoil this historical site with a North Korean building! * THE reported use of Korean architects to design a planned Independence Museum is both scandalous and an insult to Namibia’s very skilled and talented indigenous architects. Please, Government, reconsider! We do not want another piece of kitsch Stalinist architectural propaganda in our country! Our own architects will be able to do much better, in our own unique Namibian style.* CITY icon? More like a ‘City of Shame’ Instead of that statue being moved, it should be demolished. Doesn’t anyone know the shame that that statue stands for? The Ovahereros and the Namas were wiped out, yet it is glorified! It represents brutality.* HOW can the Government budget N$8m for a memorial museum while there are not enough classes for our children – the nation’s future. They said the lack of places in school at the beginning of the year was a national disaster. Teachers had to accept afternoon classes and we are sitting with 47 learners and more in a class. Vision 2030 will never be reached. Education will fail because decision makers just think about the glory of the past while neglecting our future. – Priscilla Disconnections * BOB Kandetu, the Ruacana community is not watching TV.* NBC please, we are suffering here at Mariental, just because we don’t have One Africa TV. Please do something.* THE NBC radio Damara/Nama service is not broadcast at Oranjemund. Why? Damara/Nama radio service head please do something. – Concerned liserner * REALLY the Uefa 2008 had kicked off without any single live match or official opening broadcast on NBC or One Africa.* WHY must I pay my TV licence if TV programmes like ‘The Apprentice’ and movies like ‘Red Barn’ are repeated five times. Is it the right thing to do? Health Cares * MALE counterparts involved in organisations, fighting against the spread of HIV and AIDS, are sleeping around, especially in the Erongo Region. Please live by example, you are fooling the nation! * IS the MoHSS aware that nurses with a degree did seven years of study? Why are they only paid for three or four years of study? Please minister, we need to be motivated in the profession, not to be demoralised.* BEWARE! Not only HIV is transmitted via unprotected sex, but also hepatitis B and herpes infections. The worst is that these two infections are also transmitted through saliva. It was a terrible discovery to make! Education * I AM a student of Nangolo Senior Secondaru School at Ondangwa. We are being threatened by our teachers to wear only the school jersey. Some of our parents can’t afford the school jersey. Could the Minister of Education please do something.* I THINK the Ministry of Education should look at or find the Grade 12s who completed school between 2000 and 2005, and who qualified for tertiary education and who are still not admitted, at least to be admitted first. We keep on applying but sometimes we are disqualified. There is no more money for Namcol.Labour Matters * DOES the ACC also deal with the misuse of public servants by their employer? If so please deal with Director X who is delegating his staff to perform work after hours, during weekends and lunch hours without pay, with Director Y who uses Mr B as a personal assistant, whilst he was appointed as a chief control clerk and is swamped with duties of these two positions but gets paid only for his rightful position. Also deal with the people who delay or withhold S&T payments resulting in staff catering for themselves while away on official duty, when training in some divisions is for an elite few who are at head offices, when training monies are sacrificed for other expenses. GRN must not misuse its employees just as they do not want them to misuse GRN property. If you are working with underpaid, frustrated and untrained staff, you will never get good results.