Editorial

A clearer picture will emerge in the coming days insofar as the much-anticipated Swapo elective congress and the leadership battle is concerned.

Grisly scenes of decomposing cattle at the government-owned Kavango Cattle Ranch have seen officials coming out of their cocoons following a New Era exposé of the terrible conditions the animals find themselves in. 

​​​​​​​Namibia’s housing crisis and the way it is being handled continues to raise hackles and ruffle feathers. Based on government’s own figures, the mass housing project has not been successful. 

This country’s perplexing and unequal labour situation has again been thrust into the limelight this week with roughly 100 000 civil servants voting on whether to go on strike after negotiations for better pay failed, while the City of Windhoek’s astronomical wage bill has come under scrutiny again.

It is quite embarrassing to read about the ongoing infighting rocking the Ovaherero Traditional Authority and whose senior leaders are embroiled in a chieftaincy row. 

The whole brouhaha around the recruitment of 1 500 cadets for the Namibia Defence Force again reminded us of the destructive power of the keyboard activists who would not last a day as a soldier.

The layers of dysfunction that led to the arrest of Windhoek mayor Sade Gawanas on Monday in Windhoek’s Okahandja Park and the fallout from the incident leaves no doubt that the Namibian Police need to seriously pull up their socks.

A very important moment unfolded in the National Assembly this week when parliamentarians finally passed the long-awaited Access to Information Bill, a critical piece of legislation that will in future enable citizens to not only exercise their voice but effectively monitor and hold the government to account. 

Namibians, especially workers, are going through extreme headwinds right now with food, fuel, credit and almost everything else having been the most expensive they’ve ever been.