SMSes For Thu 16 July 09

* A COUNTRY with over 50 per cent unemployment, and in which every wage earner supports an average of eight dependants, deserves much more from a Government that prioritises rhetoric over jobs and promises over action.
– Kamati

Food For Thought* HUGE solar farms in Africa to produce energy for Europe! African leaders are just discussing how to protect each other from international courts instead of discussing how to solve energy crises by investing in solar energy. Now Europeans are here to use our resources to lower the cost of energy in their countries while we are just sitting on them. Shame on us!BouquetsAnd Brickbats* A BIG thank you to all the friendly Namibians we have met over the past two weeks. We lived in Windhoek last year from Australia and it’s great to come back to Namibia and enjoy the landscape and the people. Keep up the good work guys!- Jen and Hannah * TO have dreams keeps me young I believe. Keep on dreaming Mr Pupkewitz.* CONGRATS [Paulus] Noa … Arrest them all. They are selfish and don’t care about the poor living daily from the rubbish bins. Confiscate all their assets and freeze their bank accounts. No bail for them please. * MY thanks and appreciation to the Swanepoel family who took care of my lost dog. It’s good to know that there are honest loving and caring Namibians out there. God bless you. * A BIG thank you to The Namibian for publishing my SMS about my lost dog. I got my dog back.n WE had a robbery last Saturday and the City Police were there in less than 10 minutes after we called them. Thank you very much.* I WOULD like to express my sheer gratitude towards a Windhoek taxi driver 081-223-6038, who returned my goods after being misplaced for roughly two weeks. Herewith other taxi drivers follow suit, utilise the accessible lost and found platform created by The Namibian newspaper.- Grateful Soul* Will somebody go and look at Heroes Acre. It is very dirty.General* A DISAPPOINTMENT! Government employees (prison officers) were given hours to vacate Government property for it to be made into a guest house for the higher officials. It was so inhuman. Left on the streets. And these people work for the well-being of the community. How can this Government protect us as a community if it can’t respect and protect its employees?* WHY do you publish politically related articles only, like the one by Hengari and others. How about articles by mining, agriculture, health, sport’s and Namibian professionals? I salute the articles by Mr Kandetu which appear every Tuesday in your newspaper because he is neutral. Your 30-minute interview with Mrs Zamuuani-Kamwi will motivate thousands.- CN Ndakola- Thank you. – News Editor* WHY is it that Windhoek doesn’t know jazz? We just don’t know good, original deep house music also. Khomasdal of the eighties where are you? Windhoekers of yesteryear loved SA music while their coastal peers danced to American and British bands! I am so frustrated.* PLEASE Traffic Department, do something before there is a terrible accident at the crossing of Johan Albrecht and John Meinert streets in the mornings. Taxis to the Polytech are crossing and blocking traffic into town regardless of safety. The Poly has started again and it is going to be hell if you don’t do something.* TO the person who wants to name a street after MJ, why not rename Robert Mugabe Avenue to Michael Jackson Street?Scanners* IT’S N$30 million gone – Avid, N$100 million gone – ODC, and N$120 million nearly gone. Ministry of Finance, what amount next!* PLEASE Mr President, reshuffle the Hon Minister of Finance and her deputy to ensure proper investigation of the scanner scam.Running The Show* MINISTRY of Defence when are you going to give us our medical aid cards ? It’s been 10 months since we registered or are we being deducted for nothing? Please do something.And Justice For All* AT the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court men are not allowed to apply for maintenance against women who don’t support their children who live with their father. Is that fair? I want to hear from the public?Health Matters* THE Central Hospital has poor food service. How do you expect a person to eat cold food when you are already ill and the nurses are not helpful. When you are in pain they take it as a joke. Please Ministry of Health do something.* I RECEIVED a family planning injection at Katutura Clinic on June 26 in front of two others who came for it, not even behind the curtain. Just like that at the table in front of them. No privacy?* IT is about the Odibo Health Centre. What kind of health centre is this? If you go for treatment you might wait for a doctor for two to three days. If there is no doctor, why do they not send patients to other health facilities like Engela Hospital, Eenhana Hospital, etc, where people can get a good quality of service instead of dying there? Please improve your poor service because we are tired. * ROBERT Mugabe clinic management please employ lots of nurses for quick service. On Thursday I went there at 07h00 but I was given treatment at around 13h00. There were only two nurses that were operating. Dr Kamwi please do something on this issue, we want quick service.- L Shitaa, WindhoekPolitics In General* NEWS Editor, why put the U.S. issue aside? The SMS wanted to know why the U.S. did not sign the Rome Statute, not your opinion? Let the U.S. answer, not you!- If I remember correctly, I did not address the U.S. issue, but simply suggested that some people might be interested in the excellent article by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in terms of the debate on Africa and the ICC. – News EditorIn And FromThe RegionsServices would be nice* HONOURABLE Councillor for the Anamulenge constituency has done nothing at all. We need a clinic and school at Okaye Kkongombe or surrounding. We also don’t have electricity. What is happening councillor!* MUNICIPALITY of Outjo, when are you going to supply the informal settlement with electricity? It is very shameful to stay in that area. One thing is that you are the ones who relocated people to that area. Please make some changes like other towns, don’t just stay sleeping in those offices. Remember that you are there for us. Don’t forget about streetlights at Etoshapoort location. * PLEASE Minister of Local Government and Housing, investigate the financial crisis at the Walvis Bay Municipality. How is it possible before Independence that the municipality was N$78 million strong, now after 14 years it’s bankrupt. Can’t you see poor management?* STANDARD Bank Rosh Pinah, please we need one more ATM. One is not enough and it is out of order most of the time. * NAMPOST Opuwo, please improve your service. There is always one teller. * KFC (Swakopmund), service is so slow and cashiers can be rude. You cannot even ask for a receipt and they already want to bite your head off.* WE need a filling station at Otjomuise 7de or 8ste laan ! City of Windhoek or any businessman please hear our plea!- Mr Him 0PSService Please* E EINO on Smile condoms. It is the use of unsafe lubricants such as Vaseline or body lotion that causes failure. Ask your pharmacist for a safe lubricant, or don’t use any! Since this matter is serious, this paper should look into this! * TO Cash & Buy Back Ausspannplatz, please treat your customers with respect and be more friendly and helpful. We are the ones who keep every business’s doors open.Lost And Found* I HAD a housebreaking. All my personal documents were stolen. ID, bank cards. If found please contact: Rachel RR Izaaks. Or Mrs R R Steinbeck. 081-280-5538 or 081-280-7227* I AM F N Shaningwa. I lost my driving licence and service card on Friday. If found, please call: 081-243-5332/061-257799Sporting* IS this what we call en route to professionalism. NPL is advertising for a CEO without any specific tertiary education as a requirement?Education* WHY are teachers not paid their monies claimed after attending workshops? Will Nantu save us please.* I AM concerned about teachers. Ministry of Education look at teachers’ dressing. Teachers must have a uniform like nursers. A teacher’s career is very important in the nation, and I am not happy with some of teacher’s dressing. They dress like they are going to the club, which is a negative influence on the younger generation ( learners). – S Shimwandi* ON Saturday I attended a sports day at my old school, David Bezuidenhoudt High School in Khomasdal. To say I was shocked is an understatement to see all those drunken school children openly consuming alcohol on the school grounds, whilst teachers were around doing nothing. In my days this was unheard of. If this is how our youth behave, then I am afraid I can’t see a future for our country.* ERONGO teachers are leaving schools, either to join the mines for greener pastures or going for further studies to escape certain principals, and our children are suffering in this process. The regional office is aware of this but turns a blind eye. Teachers are then overloaded with subjects for which they are not qualified. We are paying very high school fees, but still no textbooks or teachers. How does it work? Create a platform where we can raise our concerns, not the normal parents’ meeting where we are restricted to comment only on agenda points set by the regional office.Labour Issues* MORNING The Namibian! Working at Okahandja-Karibib road under NNC. Why must we pay for our safety jackets and boots? – Okahandja* I REALLY thank His Excellency [Hifikepunye Pohamba], the President of the Republic of Namibia for speaking out on labour issues (The Namibian, July 13, page 3). Some quotes: ‘and for those who work to be treated as human beings and not as animals – workers are not slaves and should be treated in a humane way’. Thus I invite the authorities within the Ministry of Health to improve the pathetic situations of the ambulance drivers at Otjiwarongo State Hospital. They are working like donkeys, the unlimited hours spent on the road is a big concern for their health, safety as well as families. Because of the great demand at the hospital, drivers are forced to work many hours.- Concerned Staff* I FEEL the implementation of the New Labour Act is useless. Because I still see people working on contracts in retail, factories, mining, some since January. What the employers are saying is that they haven’t got a budget for new staff. Every month the same story. Does the Government want to help its people? Or is the government happy as long they get tax?* I JUST want the Ministry of Defence to tell us when the names of those who applied for the NDF will be out. How will we reach Vision 2030 if only families and friends are recruited. We want the date please.