Visitors flying into Namibia may in the near future be asked to retrieve their luggage from the aircraft themselves.

Namibia's ruling Swapo party started its fourth annual congress in Windhoek on Tuesday, an event dominated by former president Sam Nujoma's retirement from active politics and the formation of a new political rival. About 580 official delegates and many more invited guests will over the next three days affirm Swapo's future leadership.

About 8,3-million Angolans will go the polls on Friday in the first election since independence in 1975 to be held under peaceful conditions.

Concern has been rising over Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba's health after he was hospitalised two weeks ago.

Namibian businessperson Simon Kapenda has been punting grandiose schemes to develop the country, though his past is tainted with fraud allegations.

The gloves have come off in Swapo in the increasingly acrimonious battle for the Namibian presidential nomination.

The discovery of a giant aquifer beneath the country's most populous region has been amazing news, writes John Grobler.

A proposal to construct a chemical plant on the Namibian coast, the heart of the coastal tourism area, has the country in a deadlock.