Namibia’s relaxed approach when it comes to celebrity is one of the main reasons why Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt chose this arid stretch of Africa to have their baby — and they should be left alone, locals say. In early April, Hollywood’s golden couple quietly jetted into Namibia where Jolie (30) is expected to give birth to their child.
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/ 28 October 2005
Nama-speaking tribes in Namibia will flock to a tiny village this weekend to pay tribute a famous chief who raised the banner of revolt against German colonial forces but was killed in battle a century ago. Tribal members will descend on Gibeon, a small town about 360km south of Windhoek, to commemorate Hendrik Witbooi, who perished on 29 October 1905 while fighting the German army.
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/ 19 September 2005
About 70 Namibian farmworkers and their families face an uncertain future after the first expropriation of a white-owned farm by the government and are fighting to retain their jobs and homes. The Namibia Farmworkers’ Union has taken up their case and says the workers, who face penury and homelessness according to the present owner, cannot be cast away on the roadside.
Newly elected Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba on Sunday extended the olive branch to the country’s white Afrikaners, but warned that an unwillingness to share land in the arid country ”could spark a revolution”. Pohamba became the first head of state since Namibian independence in 1990 to attend a church service of the Dutch Reformed Church.
Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, who was sworn in on Monday as the Southern African country’s second head of state since independence, is known for his close ties to Sam Nujoma, whose legacy he has vowed to pursue.
Namibia’s founding President Sam Nujoma will be studying geology, setting up his own charity foundation and enjoying the lifestyle afforded to a serving head of state when he retires in a week’s time. The white-bearded and bespectacled veteran leader will retain the powerful post of president of the ruling South West African Peoples’ Organisation (Swapo) until 2007.
Namibia’s High Court on Thursday ordered a recount of ballots from the November parliamentary elections that were overwhelmingly won by the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation party. But the judge refused to grant a request from two opposition parties that the elections should be declared null and void due to irregularities.
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/ 9 November 2004
Namibia is getting ready to turn the page on an era with elections next week to choose a successor to President Sam Nujoma, a pivotal figure for the past five decades in this Southern African country. Nujoma’s close ally and hand-picked successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba, is expected easily to win the election.
Namibia’s white farmers are increasingly concerned about their future after President Sam Nujoma’s government began targeting a second group of farms for expropriation under its land reform programme. A second batch of letters was sent to white farmers last week, on the heels of a first bunch in early May, notifying farm owners to set a price for the sale of their land to the State.
Parts of Namibia’s exotic Skeleton Coast could be submerged by the end of the century and its rich marine life badly hit by global warming, a report by the Southern African country’s Environment and Tourism Ministry warns. The sea level could rise between 30cm and 100cm in the next 96 years, the report says.