2006-07-27Staff Report 2 "By Ester Paulus TSUMEB The Tsumeb Copper Festival that has become an annual commercial and social event for the local community will take place on September 29 - October 1. Announcing the staging of the annual copper festival last weekend was the town's mayor Engel Nawatiseb at the Copper Festival launch. Nawatiseb said Tsumeb has the potential to become the food basket of the country, adding that the town can also become the industrial town of the north to service all national regions and neighbouring SADC countries, considering its strategic and demographic location. The mayor encouraged exhibitors to showcase their products. ""We anticipate a strong presence of local and other interested exhibitors from the SADC region to showcase their products while more than 10 popular Namibian artists will line up to provide a music concert not to be missed."" During the festival, the Mohammed Ouseb Sport Development Academy as well Namibia's long distance runner Agnes Samaria are expected to conduct coaching sessions in soccer and athletics while a gold schools tournament, a seven-a-side soccer engagement, tennis, basketball and a mayor's invitational team will lock horns as part of the festivities. The main event will be preceded by the third phase of a street-naming ceremony, an event where leaders, captains of industry, community and national heroes are honoured for their outstanding contributions to the struggle for independence and for other heroic deeds that benefit the community of Tsumeb. Nawatiseb said: ""The Copper Festival is known for its ability to unite the residents of the town and to provide a platform of mutual understanding and gratefulness to pursue our dreams for a better life for all through wealth creation and economic empowerment. ""The festival therefore creates the opportunity for Tsumeb residents to showcase their economic and social competitive advantages to national and international investors."" At the occasion, the mayor stressed that the town is currently preparing to set up the long awaited hydroponics and aquaculture project at the beginning of next year. According to him, it is anticipated that the project will create around 500 permanent and more than 2 000 seasonal jobs. Attached to the project is a component that can train the workers to start satellite projects around the main project as a way of expanding its export capacity. Nawatiseb assured residents that local investors have decided to bring a number of key player businesses into the mainstream economy at the town. He said this multimillion complex is expected to start soon. It is anticipated that it will provide diverse retail services and create more job opportunities for the residents. This year's event will be celebrated under the theme ""Copper Station a Better Destination"" which is an initiative by learners from Etosha Senior Secondary School. " 2006-07-27Staff Report 2
