Namibian President Sam Nujoma on Saturday hailed his country’s 15-year record of democracy and peace, as he gave his farewell speech to Parliament before he steps down. He praised the members of the former Constituent Assembly who elected him as head of state in 1990 and who drafted the country’s Constitution after its independence.
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.
Namibia is feeling the pinch of providing treatment to civil servants living with HIV/Aids.
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/ 21 February 2005
It is the type of retirement package by which even those leaders most wedded to their jobs might be seduced. When outgoing Namibian President Sam Nujoma hands over power to his successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba, on March 21, he will continue receiving the same monthly salary as the Southern African country’s new leader.
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/ 2 February 2005
A Namibian Supreme Court judge arrested on charges of kidnapping two young girls from a township bus stop and sexually assaulting them was granted bail on Wednesday. Magistrate Sarel Jacobs posted bail of N 000 (R9 600) for Judge Tio Peek and ordered him to hand in his passport.
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/ 1 February 2005
Battered by two years of a strong Namibian dollar, the country’s fishing sector — a key foreign exchange earner — is now in trouble, with retrenchments and factory closures on the horizon. After mining, fishing is the largest industry in Namibia, bringing in just more than R312-million) in export earnings each year.
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/ 20 November 2004
President Sam Nujoma’s chosen successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba, won an overwhelming victory in elections in Namibia, garnering more than 77% of the vote, results from more than half of counted ballots showed on Friday. Pohamba is to become Namibia’s second president since independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.
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/ 18 November 2004
Namibian President Sam Nujoma’s chosen successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba, held a commanding lead on Thursday as first results of elections in the Southern African country of Namibia were released. Namibians voted on Monday and Tuesday to choose a new leader to fill the shoes of founding president and liberation hero Nujoma.
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/ 15 November 2004
President Sam Nujoma called on Namibians to vote on Monday as he cast his ballot on the first day of elections in the Southern African country that are set to hand victory to his hand-picked successor. Nujoma is expected to be succeeded by Lands Minister Hifikepunye Pohamba, who is widely tipped to win the presidential election.
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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 health officials are grappling with the magnitude of the HIV/Aids pandemic in the Caprivi Strip, which borders three of the world’s worst-affected countries — Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women in the Caprivi region stands at 43%.
The leader of Namibia’s largest opposition party on Friday criticised the government’s plan to expropriate white farmers, saying that it will destroy agriculture and harm black farm labourers. Ben Ulenga of the Congress of Democrats also called on Germany to help with land reform through more financial aid.
Namibian church leaders called on the country’s government on Wednesday to be cautious as it moves toward the first expropriations under its land reform programme. A 14-strong delegation from the Council of Churches in Namibia made the appeal after meeting with Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab.
Namibian President Sam Nujoma travelled to Zambia on Thursday ahead of trips to Kenya, Tanzania and later this month to China and Malaysia as part of a farewell tour before stepping down in March. Nujoma, who is travelling with members of his Cabinet, is to open a trade fair in Zambia.
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.
Namibian President Sam Nujoma on Monday lashed out against ”imperialists” who he said either steal Africa’s wealth or engineer wars to prevent the continent from benefiting from its riches. ”Africa must stop living on handouts of imperialist countries,” Nujoma told the opening of a parliamentary forum in the Namibian capital.
Namibia’s white farmers are hopeful of a negotiated solution to a crisis over land reform despite recent moves by the government to expropriate farms and hand them over to blacks. The government in the middle of May served notices on 15 white farmers giving them 14 days to offer their land for sale to the state.
Namibia’s Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab on Wednesday defended his government’s move to expropriate white farmers, saying it is ”doing the right thing” to redress an imbalance in land ownership. ”There is no crisis nor any land grab in Namibia … the government is doing the right thing,” he said.
The offer Namibian farmers can’t refuse
The Namibian government has told a first group of farmers they must sell their property under land reforms that some fear could wreak as much havoc with agriculture as a similar programme did in Zimbabwe. Land Minister Hifikepunye Pohamba this week sent letters to about 10 white farm owners.
Namibian President Sam Nujoma has threatened to seize land from white farmers who treat their workers badly, a local newspaper reported on Monday. Nujoma told a May Day rally in the small town of Karibib, about 200km west of Windhoek, that a few ”racist farmers” were firing their workers and leaving them homeless.
More than 15Â 000 people are facing floods in north-eastern Namibia as water levels rose due to heavy rains in the Zambezi river’s catchment area, officials said on Saturday. Zimbabwean air force helicopters have flown to the water-stricken area to help with rescue operations.
Having constantly dismissed comparisons with Zimbabwe, Namibia’s government last week lent credence to current perceptions when it announced plans to expropriate white-owned farms on the same day President Robert Mugabe’s propaganda chief arrived in the country.
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/ 10 February 2004
The passing of Namibia’s new Inheritance and Maintenance Law at the end of last year has proved an enormous shot in the arm for illegitimate children battling for their inheritance. The new law has been hailed as long overdue by legal experts and will also put defaulting fathers under closer scrutiny.
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/ 12 January 2004
Germany’s ambassador to Namibia expressed his country’s ”regret” on Sunday over the ruthless quelling of the Herero tribe uprising a century ago in which tens of thousands were slaughtered by German colonial troops.
An unusual and vehement war of words about historic truths dating back to the apartheid era has erupted between President Sam Nujoma of Namibia and the outspoken editor of a local newspaper.
Aids has been ravaging Africa for 20 years now, with 2,4-million people dying of the disease last year and close to 30-million people infected by its precursor HIV, but some communities maintain it does not affect them.
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/ 27 November 1987
The Namibian also reported that 202 Battalion had recently had a serious crisis when 48 soldiers refused orders and opted to resign.