Mixed feelings over curfew
… a tribute to Ambassador Nicolas Bwakira
MARIENTAL - Following the introduction of a countrywide curfew last year, some residents of Mariental are feeling the impact on their businesses, especially bar owners and those in the transportation industry.
Bar owners stressed that they have strengthened Covid-19 precautionary measures in their establishments, hence they are of the opinion that the curfew needs to be adjusted.
The current curfew starts at 22h00 until 04h00.
“We are closing at 20h00, we are losing out on customers because most people knock off at 17h00, so they only have two hours, we are no more making money. I think they should at least lift the curfew until midnight and at least bars can close at 22h00,” said Styvo Malakia, a bar owner in Mariental.
Malakia stressed that he is selfemployed and only depends on the bar to generate income.
He said his customers are aware of the Covid-19 regulations and he keeps a register inside the bar as well as hand sanitiser.
According to Moses Marcus, a local taxi operator, the time to transport customers around town is now limited as everyone, including the taxi drivers should be off the streets by 22h00.
“Time is limited. If it is 22h00 and you are found in the street without a valid reason, you will be in trouble.
Customers are also scared because many lost their jobs and if it continues this way, things will be worse, hence the curfew hour needs to be adjusted from 22h00 to midnight,” Marcus reiterated.
Some community members however are happy with the curfew and are encouraging the law enforcers to monitor those operating after curfew in order to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
Sophia Kooper, a resident of Nuwe Lokasie is of the opinion that the curfew is what will save many people from contracting the virus.
“It is a good thing that the President said people should be off the streets. The time is right because when corona preventative measures were implemented, there were fewer complaints in the street and we could rest,” she said.
Kooper added that although the curfew was meant to regulate movements, some community members are not adhering to the regulations.
“I also want the President to relook at the current situation because some bars are still operating after the curfew and we want the police to stop the bars and people walking in the street after the curfew because we still get a lot of complaints in our area because of these movements,” she urged.
Another resident in agreement with the curfew is Michael Witbooi, who pleaded with the community to be patient.
“I support the President’s decision and we should just be patient with the preventative measures put in place,” he said.
The President recently announced that government intervention measures to close bars at 20h00 in the evening remains in force.
Equally, the wearing of masks will remain mandatory and public gatherings indoors are still restricted to 50 people.
The intervention measures will remain in place until 31 March.
In March 2020, the supply of water from the Hardap Dam to the local irrigation scheme was cut off due to low water levels, which stood at about 6.6%. This, coupled with less rainfall in the catchment areas at the time, led to low dairy production, fodder and maize harvest.
In January this year, however, the dam reached a capacity of over 88% inflow after, which NamWater decided to release some water to keep the dam level under 70%. This decision was made after the 2006 flooding that occurred in Mariental.
Today, the farmers are feeling positive as they anticipate a bumper harvest due to good rains and sufficient dam capacity.
According to vice chairperson of Agronomic Producers Association of Namibia Dawie de Klerk, at the moment, the dam level stands at around 71.3% capacity, which is sufficient for two crop seasons.
“There are approximately 500 hectares of maize planted at Hardap, which will bring a yield of approximately 5.5 to 6 000 tons, which will be marketed at the milling industry in Namibia for human consumption and the whole harvest will be taken up by the Namibian millers,” De Klerk noted.
It is also anticipated that approximately 1 200 hectares of wheat will be planted, which will result in approximately 7 500 to 8 000 tons of yield.
De Klerk added that the mindset of
the farmers is good and that everybody will gain from a thriving Hardap agriculture industry this year.
A substantial number of workers who were temporarily laid off or lost their jobs due to water cuts at the scheme last year are also gradually returning to work because of the increasing number of farming activities.
Jason Kasita, who has been working at the scheme for over 20 years, is excited about the expected harvest this year. However, he still has concerns
about the low salaries paid to the workers.
“The salary is not yet improved but we wait for the government and the owner to improve it. It is said that the government determines the salaries, so we await their decision because the work is a lot – but the salary is less,” said Kasita.
According to Duan Adriaanse,
farm manager at Kachas farm, besides the fact that workers are back and that they are expecting a high dairy farming output, there are still challenges that the farmers are struggling with to ensure a bumper harvest and quality milk production.
He said the local farmers are competing with their South African counterparts on dairy produce – which, to this day, dominate Namibian shelves.
“We have enough water supply to produce our own feed for the farm but there are still struggles in the dairy industry because some local retailers prefer to purchase South African dairy in order to cut costs, leaving us without a market. We cannot compete with the South African price,” said Adriaanse.
The scheme is also battling an infestation of armyworms, which the farmers say is being managed by means of spraying with a chopper.
There are also ongoing negotiations with the Office of the Prime Minister and the agriculture ministry, aimed at improving the agricultural practices and increase benefits for the Hardap irrigation scheme.
The Namibian Agronomic Board has put measures in place to ensure minimal food security interruption during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
Thus, millers have secured contracts with local suppliers of staple food grains, such as white maize, wheat and pearl millet, which are an added advantage for farm owners and workers to generate income.
The good rains in the country also brought relief to the communal farmers whose livestock numbers were greatly reduced due to the reoccurring drought in the country.
Hopeful… Dairy farmer Duan Adriaanse.
GOBABIS - The ministry land reform on Friday handed over 988 land hold titles, under the Flexible Land Tenure System, to the beneficiaries of Freedom Square informal settlement in Gobabis.
In a speech read by his deputy Anna Shiweda, minister Calle Schlettwein said the government introduced an inclusive idea to reform land tenure, of which the FLTS benefits people living in the informal settlements and those who earn low income that are unable to afford land under the freehold system.
He said government is committed to this cause in order to bring an end to informal settlements in towns and the country at large. Schlettwein added that the land hold titles will provide beneficiaries security of tenure to the land they occupy and enable them to build decent houses of their choice, while they could also be keys to access finance from financial institutions.
The government spent more than N$1.5 million on this project, with an amount of N$1.2 million spent as direct cost while an additional N$350 000 was spent as indirect cost.
“One of the uniqueness of the Flexible Land Tenure System is that the registration of the titles in the Land Rights Office is done free of charge by a government official, as opposed to a freehold registration system which is done by a conveyancer at a cost,” said Schlettwein.
Schlettwein thanked all the stakeholders in this project, including the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, which rendered technical and financial support through GIZ as well as the Gobabis
municipality for availing free land where nine flexible land tenure schemes are established to manage a total of 1 110 residential plots.
“I am even happier to learn that the Gobabis municipality has already provided essential services to these plots such as water, sewer and access to roads. We need to applaud them for this because it is our wish that in the end, all beneficiaries under the Flexible Land Tenure System must have access to basic services.”
The representative of the Federal Republic of Germany Herbert Beck, in his speech delivered by Thomas Haenert of GIZ, said their engagement in urban land reform goes some way back but started in earnest
with support to FLTS by GIZ in 2017, which played a technical role in bringing about the Flexible Land Tenure Act in May 2018.
Beck further said the German cooperation has committed to support this project and will also support many others.
“This technical cooperation project is only the first of further projects in a new priority area of Namibia-German cooperation for inclusive and sustainable urban development,” said Beck.
On their part, the Omaheke Regional Council’s chairperson Ignatius Kariseb said the regional leadership appreciates the FLTS and government’s efforts of ensuring access to land and improving living conditions of all Namibians.
AN African for Africans has gone; a minder of Namibian exiles has fallen asleep; an astute diplomat is no more; a skilful negotiator has left us. Born in Burundi on 10 November 1941, in Kabuye Village, Bujumbura Province, Bwakira grew from a village boy to a law graduate, eventually becoming the towering figure at the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU), epitomising selflessness and humanity.
Bwakira joined the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, 1970, as legal advisor and became the UNHCR deputy regional representative for Africa and head of liaison with the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 1971 to 1975.
Bwakira’s attachment to Namibia intensified during his posting to Luanda, Angola as the UNHCR representative and UN coordinator of humanitarian programme for rehabilitation and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons from 1976 to 1978. It was during this period that he had lunch on Sundays at his house with President Sam Nujoma of Swapo, then a liberation movement for Namibia’s independence.
From 1978, Bwakira worked at the UNHCR headquarters as head of Central and West Africa Desk until 1982 when he was posted to Ethiopia as UNHCR representative for Africa and UNECA, a position that brought him back to interactions with Namibian refugees. In 1988, Bwakira returned to the UNHCR headquarters as deputy director for Africa. The process leading to Namibia’s independence was unfolding and he was appointed the UNHCR coordinator for the return of Namibian exiles and coordinator for UN humanitarian operations in Windhoek, Namibia where he coordinated the repatriation of over 43 000 Namibians in 1989. Prior to the return of exiles, Bwakira undertook a mission to northern Namibia to assess the safety and security of returning exiles. He detested the intimidating presence and mischievous behaviours of Koevoet members who were transformed into the South West Africa Police (SWAPOL).
When the first fight carrying Namibians arrived at the then JG Strydom airport, now Hosea Kutako International Airport, Bwakira was there to satisfy himself that exiles were safely back to their motherland. A moving picture in The Namibian newspaper of 13 June 1989 showed Bwakira holding a hand of an exiled child, walking her to the terminal. Bwakira performed his tasks with utmost diligence and accomplishment. His eldest daughter Carine, then a high school learner came to visit him. Carine had long known President Nujoma whom she fondly called ‘my President” during her father’s posting in Angola. She had the posters of President Nujoma and Che Guevara hanging in her room. During her visit to her father in 1989, Carine spent six weeks in Namibia and had an opportunity to meet “her President”.
After leaving Namibia in 1990, Bwakira returned to the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland as director for Africa, where he was involved in the negotiations for the return of South African exiles. There he demonstrated his negotiation talents and diplomatic acumen. In 1994, Bwakira was appointed UNHCR regional director for the SADC region, based in Pretoria, South Africa until his posting to the UN Headquarters in New York, US as Director of the UNHCR Office. He retired from the UN in 2002, but hold on! Who would let such an experienced brain go to waste? In the same year, the University of South Africa (UNISA) appointed him director of International Relations and Partnerships.
From dining and winning with diplomats, Bwakira was now rubbing shoulders with professors, lecturers and researchers. Owing to his outstanding performance in the diplomatic circles, the African Union appointed Bwakira as its special representative for Somalia, based in Nairobi, Kenya from 2007 to 2009.
In 2009, Bwakira became a consultant at the Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa until 2011 when he became a member of the institute’s board of trustees. An adage says: “We meet to part and part to meet”; during his posting in Namibia, Bwakira served under Martti Ahtisaari, the UN Secretary General’s special representative for Namibia and head of the United Nations Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG). The two reunited in 2014 when Bwakira was appointed advisor to the Crisis Management Initiative, an institution that Ahtisaari founded, involved in meditation and reconciliation efforts worldwide.
I had an opportunity to interact with Bwakira on 16 September 2017 when I was conducting research work for a book on Namibia’s history, commissioned by the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and contracted by the University of Namibians. Bwakira and his wife, Cryllila, warmly welcomed me at their residence in Johannesburg, South Africa, and he provided photographic materials that would enhance the publication. Following my appointment as minister of urban and rural development in February 2018, Bwakira immediately send me a message of congratulations and said he was looking forward to reading the chapter on the repatriation of Namibia. It is sad that he passed on before he could see his enrichment to the publication.
What is in a name? The name Nicolas is a Greek name meaning “victory of the people”. Bwakira came to Namibia in 1989 to be part of the process of bringing victory to the Namibian people. His family became attached to the country that his youngest son, Christian, worked in Namibia from 2009 to 2012 as country manager for Visa Inc. Bwakira departed to eternity on Friday, 5 March 2021.