Oheti
Former president Hifikepunye Pohamba has appealed to Namibians living on the border with Angola to support and render basic education and health services to Angolan nationals in need of such services.
Speaking at Oheti on Tuesday, the former president said villages and towns bordering Angola have a high influx of Angolan nationals seeking treatment at Namibian hospitals, as well as learners who cross the border to attend classes at Namibian schools daily.
Pohamba said Namibians should be tolerant and not deny Angolan nationals such services and he insisted Namibians and Angolans are one, have a symbiotic relationship and have deep-rooted cultural and historical ties.
“We should not forget where we came from. Some of you here (referring to some villagers at Oheti) probably even settled here from there,” said Pohamba.
In the same vein, Pohamba also appealed to male school-going children to take education seriously.
Pohamba said the number of female learners in many instances outweighs the number of male learners admitted at the schools. Pohamba thus advised parents to refrain from sending school-going boys to farms to herd livestock.
“There is no education at the farms – if there is no one to look after the livestock, perhaps the alternative is to have the elders herding livestock,” said Pohamba.
Pohamba further advised school-going girls to desist from falling pregnant whilst at school.
He advised the girls to first seek education to develop their villages in future. He further advised them against leaving their children with grandparents.
“Some of our children keep dropping children after children with the grandparents while they are prostituting and robbing people in order to keep up with the city life. Such behaviour is not acceptable and should not be tolerated,” warned the president.