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namib times
SERVING THE COASTAL COMMUNITY SINCE 1958 NO 6840 FRIDAY 31 JANUARY 2020 Tel: +264 64 - 205854 / +264 64 - 461866 /Fax: +264 64 - 204813 / 064 - 461824 / Website: www.namibtimes.net
“Nice-to-have” projects off the table - Mayor
Passengers on cruise liner scanned for Corona Virus
Walvis Bay Mayor Alderman Immanuel Wilfried vowed at the year’s first Council meeting on Tuesday that no “nice-to-have” projects would be entertained for 2020.
Namport’s port health division boarded the cruise liner AidaMira in the port of Walvis Bay yesterday to screen all passengers prior to disembarking. Until further notice this will be standard procedure.
Tough economic times and a tight budgetary constraint leaves Council no choice than to focus funds as close as possible to the root of service delivery and maintenance of infrastructure. The Council meeting on Tuesday morning was called to announce the festive holiday recess has now ended and Council resumes its work for 2020. “We are already in the process of revising and compiling all our budgetary needs for the next financial year, which will focus entirely on affordability. In other words nice-to-have projects will not be considered at all, but sufficient provision will be made for maintenance of existing infrastructure”, the Mayor said. Adding: “In these tough economic times, it is essential that we set priorities as precisely as possible and allocate the right attention to the right things. Then we need to act as quickly as possible. We need to be on the same path by understanding how to make change happen, assign accountability, makes those key decisions, delegate where necessary and make sure that teams work well together”. Alderman Wilfried who retired recently also made use of the opportunity to recommit himself to the community as the first citizen. He said his retirement will now afford him more time to spend with residents, to listen and to consult. For the Swapo majority Council of the Municipality of Walvis Bay a challenging political year lies ahead. The Swapo Party took a huge dent in the Erongo Region during the 27 November 2019 Presidential and National Assembly Election. Opposition political parties combined received the majority vote from Erongo voters and independent Presidential candidate Dr. Panduleni received more votes in the Region than Swapo Presidential candidate Dr Hage Geingob. Equally in the recent by-election of the Erongo Regional Council for the Walvis Bay Urban Constituency, independent candidate Knowledge Ipinge took the majority vote. Swapo who has eight of the ten seats in the
Hundreds of passengers queued inside the cruise liner and where they were screened. The screening resulted in passengers somewhat delayed in disembarking. The cruise liner docked at berth number one to take on bunkers [there is currently no bunkering infrastructure on the passenger liner terminal] leading to most of the passengers having to walk to the South gate at 5th Street to exit the port.
Alderman Immanuel Wilfried Walvis Bay Town Council not only has to keep its eyes on the ball against opposition politics and independent candidates, but also has to manage division within the party. Swapo for many months only has seven members on the Town Council. The eighth seat is vacant following the death of Swapo Town Councillor Samson Nghilumbwa in a car crash in May 2019. Division among party members is so rife that no one could yet decide who is to fill this seat. The Town Council has ten seats. (Swapo - 8 seats; Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) - 1 seat and United Democratic Front 9UDF) - 1 seat. Namibia again goes to the polls at the end of 2020 for the Local Authority Elections in which it is predicted Swapo will again face a tough opposition as well as a host of independent candidates. Many Swapo party members opt to make themselves available as independent candidates in elections, as they feel the Swapo party is not doing enough to curb corruption and deliver service to the citizens of the country. The recent #Fishrot (fish quotas in exchange for bribes) and the excesses of the political elite at the expense of the wide majority of Namibians are regarded as main catalysts for Swapo’s poor performance in the 2019 elections. For the first time since Independence (1990) Swapo failed to attract a two thirds majority in the National Assembly.
inside No justice despite High Court order
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Stolen vehicle retrieved
Vandalism of street signs a great concern
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Such act of vandalism not only inconvenience residents and visitors but compromise the safety of road users and places an extra burden on the municipality's resources to repair and replace resulting in high cost. In December 2019 alone, 240 traffic signs and 91 street names were vandalised while 147 traffic signs and 152 street names went missing in Walvis Bay. Close to N$205 000 00 will be spent to replace the vandalised and missing signs and these losses are inevitably and indirectly recovered from residents. The Municipality is working hard to replace or repair between 80 and 100 signs per month. There is a blatant disregard for public
First ever Golf Series for Autism hosted by Nedbank
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Nächste Woche wieder Council has noted with growing concern ganz Locker the acts of vandalism of traffic and road vom signs in Walvis Bay. Hocker!