No image available
/ 3 February 2008
In a rugby match riddled with mistakes and plenty of kicking, the Bulls, in their second friendly match preparing for the Super 14 season, beat the Lions in their first outing of the season 28-14 in Windhoek on Saturday. The Lions, with a little more practice, are going to be a team to watch.
No image available
/ 25 January 2008
Namibia held out longer than the majority of its counterparts in Southern Africa before signing the interim economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union, managing in the process to squeeze some concessions from Brussels after intense diplomatic efforts.
No image available
/ 13 January 2008
Five tourists and their pilot have been killed in Namibia after their light aircraft crashed into a house on take-off, officials said on Saturday. The five dead tourists were identified as Israeli diamond-cutters, according to the Israeli-founded humanitarian organisation Zaka, responsible for the recovery and identification of body parts.
Namibia had already been dismissed as the no-hopers of the 2008 African Nations Cup. Just qualifying stunned African football followers who confidently predicted that traditionally strong Democratic Republic of Congo and emerging force Libya would slug it out for Group 10 honours.
No image available
/ 14 December 2007
A court ruled on Thursday in favour of a white Zimbabwean farmer fighting a last-ditch bid against seizure of his land by his government. The case, which was the first to be tried by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal, was considered a test of the bloc’s commitment to justice and democracy.
No image available
/ 11 December 2007
A Southern African regional tribunal based in Namibia said on Tuesday that it would rule this week on an appeal filed by a white Zimbabwean farmer who was evicted from his land. ”We will deliver a ruling before the end of the week,” Judge Onkemetse Tshosa, president of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal, said.
No image available
/ 28 November 2007
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.
No image available
/ 18 November 2007
A former Cabinet minister and senior stalwart of Nambia’s ruling party, Hidipo Hamutenya, launched a new movement in Namibia on Saturday, promising a different political vision and accelerated economic growth once in power. Hamutenya resigned from the ruling South West Africa Peoples’ Organisation (Swapo) and as a member of Parliament last week.
No image available
/ 15 November 2007
A white Zimbabwean farmer is set to go to court in Namibia next week over attempts by the Zimbabwean government to seize his land, the first case to be heard by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal. William Michael Campbell (75) faces criminal charges in Zimbabwe for failing to vacate his farm.
No image available
/ 31 October 2007
President Thabo Mbeki told lawmakers in Namibia on Tuesday that the two neighbours’ destinies were inextricably linked as he oversaw a new push to boost cross-border trade. After talks with host President Hifikepunye Pohamba, Mbeki was accorded the honour of addressing Parliament in Windhoek.
No image available
/ 30 October 2007
South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki held talks with his Namibian counterpart, Hifikepunye Pohamba, in Windhoek on Tuesday on a visit designed to boost cross-border trade and cooperation in the energy sector. The proposed development of Namibia’s offshore Kudu gas-field project was among the topics in the initial round of discussions.
No image available
/ 24 October 2007
Sixty-eight villagers in northern Namibia were hospitalised last week after eating a dog that had been killed by disease, the local daily the Namibian reported on Wednesday. The paper said the dog’s owner had killed it after it contracted an unknown skin disease and ordered it to be burned.
No image available
/ 15 October 2007
Authorities have ordered the deportation of two Americans working for a security firm that was trying to recruit Namibians to work as guards at United States facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Namibian Cabinet also recommended the closure of the local branch of the Las Vegas-based security firm, Special Operations Consulting-Security Management Group.
No image available
/ 14 October 2007
They roamed the savannahs and open plains for thousands of years, but the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of Southern Africa’s San tribes is slowly being squeezed towards extinction. About 30 000 San remain in Namibia, with the Haikom and Juhoansi the largest groups.
No image available
/ 12 October 2007
New limits on catches of the endangered Patagonian toothfish, regarded as a culinary delicacy in Japan, have been imposed by a Namibia-based regional fishing organisation. Hashali Hamukuaya, executive of the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation, said its scientific committee had recommended the limit on the fish.
No image available
/ 12 September 2007
Southern Africa urgently needs to invest in its energy sector to be able to provide its growing populations with electricity and the means for economic development, a senior Namibian energy official said on Wednesday. ”Southern Africa is running dry,” Siseho Simasiku, the head of Namibia’s Electricity Control Board, said.
No image available
/ 11 September 2007
Namibia’s Environment and Tourism Minister, Willem Konjore, called on Tuesday on Namibians to exercise greater care in regions where elephants abound following the death of four people in the past six weeks in run-ins with the giant animals. Both locals and tourists should also avoid disturbing elephants in any way, the minister said.
The Namibian government said on Wednesday it will continue culling seals after a meeting with animal rights activists failed to halt the mass killings. The government argues the seals consume 900 000 tonnes of fish a year, more than one-third of the fishing-industry catch.
A child plays in a stagnant pool of water beside a mongrel dog that gives out a half-hearted bark before retiring in the sun-baked dust. Take a stroll from here into Babylon, an informal settlement. The filth and decay, the lack of water and proper sanitary facilities in Babylon and other informal settlements in Namibia are a blueprint for a disaster.
Angola, Namibia and South Africa launched a joint commission on Friday designed to lay the groundwork for a sustainable and environmental approach of their shared fishing grounds in the Atlantic Ocean. ”The Benguela Current Commission is the first of its kind in the world,” said Namibia’s Fisheries Minister Abraham Iyambo.
Namibia’s annual seal hunting season started this week, over the protests of animal rights activists who say the practice is cruel. The government accused the activists of ”deliberately distorting information,” and said controlling the seal population was important for the fishing industry.
Africa’s skies are set to become safer with the inauguration on Thursday of the African Civil Aviation Agency (ACAA), a continental body to standardise and oversee licensing, training and inspection of aviation staff and equipment. ”Like the rest of the world, Africa is trying to standardise … airspace,” ACAA CEO Mwangi wa Kamau said on Wednesday.
Working closely with the Central Intelligence Organisation’s directorate of counter-intelligence, Zanu-PF has been setting up secret death squads comprising members of the National Youth Service training programme. The squads petrol bomb political opponents’ homes, commit acts of sabotage and torture opponents to President Robert Mugabe’s regime, a former member of one such death squad said this week.
Namibia has purchased two commercial farms near the Etosha National Park on behalf of a tribe of San who were evicted from their ancestral lands inside the famed game reserve 100 years ago, a minister said. ”This will lead to huge tourism potential for the Hai//om community,” said Namibian Environment and Tourism Minister Willem Konjore.
Equatorial Guinea has begun supplying fuel-starved Zimbabwe with oil at favourable terms for an unspecified period, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said. ”They are providing us with crude oil at favourable terms. We only have to pay after every three months,” Mugabe said on Wednesday night in Windhoek.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe denounced the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday evening, calling dependence on the crisis lender and other donors tantamount to economic slavery, reducing African countries to beggars. ”We don’t have to go to IMF for that, even to any European donor, for what we can do between and amongst ourselves,” Mugabe told a business meeting.
No image available
/ 28 February 2007
Rights activists in Namibia on Wednesday shouted ”tyrant” and waved placards condemning Robert Mugabe’s controversial land reforms in a protest to mark the Zimbabwean leader’s visit to the Southern African nation. Mugabe was kept away from scores of protesters who chanted and paraded outside the Zimbabwean embassy in Windhoek.
No image available
/ 28 February 2007
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrived in Namibia on Tuesday at the start of a three-day visit which will see him hold talks with counterpart Hifikepunye Pohamba and sign a number of bilateral agreements. Pohamba was on hand to greet Mugabe who was given a red-carpet reception at Windhoek airport.
No image available
/ 27 February 2007
Human rights groups in Namibia were on Tuesday preparing a hostile reception for Robert Mugabe at the start of a three-day state visit to Windhoek by the veteran Zimbabwean president. Mugabe, who was due to arrive in Namibia on Tuesday evening, is to meet with Namibian counterpart Hifikepunye Pohamba and sign a number of bilateral agreements.
No image available
/ 6 February 2007
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday extended cash and loans as he toured Namibia on an African tour marked by Beijing’s largesse to states where its economic presence is booming. Hu signed agreements extending a grant of ,1-million and a soft loan for the same amount.
No image available
/ 5 February 2007
Chinese President Hu Jintao brought his eight-nation African tour on Monday to Namibia, a sparsely populated, mineral-rich desert country that hopes to benefit from an influx of Chinese investment and tourists. Chinese and Namibian flags and photos of Hu and Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba decorated the main highway from Windhoek’s airport.
No image available
/ 2 February 2007
Calls by Namibia’s indigenous San people for their rights to ancestral land to be upheld were given clout by a report released on Friday calling for reforms to end their marginalisation. The report by the Legal Assistance Centre highlights the San’s dispossession of land and their status as the most marginalised ethnic group in the country.