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THE PERIOD AFTER NAMIBIA'S INDEPENDENCE Part8(7840 total words in this text) (383 Reads) 
| 1997 |
Namibia experiences an
exceptionally good rainy season.
Namibia conforms still to the classic picture of an African
raw materials’ producer. But, its export structure has changed somewhat
since independence, but the traditional resource exports (diamonds and other
minerals, fish and beef) still dominate. Some progress has been made in
increasing manufactured exports: They increased from 13,1% in 1981 to 27,5%
in 1997, down from a high of more than 30% in 1992 to 1994. The relative
importance of raw material processing has increased - from 63% in 1981 to
76% in 1997.
The newly released "Policy and Programme on Small Business Development"
recognises the vital role the "Small and Medium Enterprises Development (SME)"
sector can play in the achievement of the Government central economic
objectives of growth, employment, reduction of poverty and inequality
between the "two Namibias" (first world and third world Namibia).
The agricultural sector makes a significant contribution to exports from
Namibia. This ranged from 15% in 1990 to a high of 19% in 1996. The export
of cattle and meat products accounts for more than 70% of agricultural
exports since 1990.
There are considerable achievements which have been accomplished since
independence. The adult literacy rate doubled from 40% to 80% in 1997 and
further improvements in literacy and the school enrolment rate are expected
owing to Government’s policy priorities. But these achievements are
threatened by the serious HIV-Aids situation. Life expectancy has dropped
from 56 years (1994) to 52 years (1997).
The National Labour Force Survey (NLFS) establishes that unemployment in the
strict sense rose from 19,4% 1993/94 to 19.9% in 1997 and in the broad sense
rose from 32,9% 1993/94 to 38,8% in 1997.
Ovambanderu Chief Gerson Hoveka dies. His successor is Sylvanus Hoveka.
Councillors of the Ovambanderu Community of the
Hoveka Group at the Meeting with the Cabinet Committee: Archives of
Anticolonial Resistance and the Liberation Struggle (AACRLS) at Epukiro Pos
3: 28.07.2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
Chief Silvanus Hoveka of the Ovambanderu Community
of the Hoveka Group at the Meeting with the Cabinet Committee: Archives of
Anticolonial Resistance and the Liberation Struggle (AACRLS) at Epukiro Pos
3: 28.07.2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
Herero Day in Okahandja: Memorising the Home
Coming of Late Samuel Maharero: 23./26.08.1923: Ovaherero Chief Silvanus
Hoveka: Otjozondjupa Region: 24.08.2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
   
 
Councillors of the Ovambanderu Community of the
Hoveka Group at the Meeting with the Cabinet Committee: Archives of
Anticolonial Resistance and the Liberation Struggle (AACRLS) at Epukiro Pos
3: 28.07.2003
Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks
Bishop Kamburona of the Ovambanderu Community of
the Hoveka Group at the Meeting with the Cabinet Committee: Archives of
Anticolonial Resistance and the Liberation Struggle (AACRLS) at Epukiro Pos
3: 28.07.2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks |
| January |
A former Brigadier in
the South African Defence Force (SADF) and head of the former SA Apartheid
Government’s chemical and biological warfare programme, Project Coast,
Wouter Basson, is arrested for possession of the drug, Ecstasy, in Pretoria.
He spends some years in prison until he is acquitted by Judge Willie
Hartzenberg on 11.04.2002 on 61 charges of murder, fraud and drug
trafficking. Most of his crimes he allegedly committed in Namibia in the
pre-independence years. Within hours of the verdict, the Minister for
Foreign Affairs, Theo-Ben Gurirab, vows that the Government would not rest
until it had seen justice done. Basson’s alleged crimes were confirmed by
members of the SADF’s covert South African Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB).
This evidence lifted the lid on Operation Dual, a systematic plan to
exterminate captured PLAN soldiers and thus solving the problem of
overcrowding Fort Rev, the notorious top secret SA Special Forces Base on
the outskirts of Ondangwa. The base was destroyed shortly before
independence, and today, only the foundations remain of the detention
barracks and interrogation rooms where detainees were held and tortured
until they agreed with the SA Forces, or signed their own death warrants by
remaining loyal to SWAPO. Due to formalistic, legal arguments Basson has not
be extradited to Namibia until the present day. |
| 11.01. |
The Deputy Minister
for Works, Transport and Communication, Klaus Dierks, announces that the
road rehabilitation project between Otavi and Otjiwarongo will commence
before the end of the month. |
| 13.01. |
The San community of
the Hai||om in the Etosha Pan blocks two access roads into this popular
tourist resort. This spectacular demonstration by the San is intended to
force the government to acknowledge their ancestral land rights on parts of
the Etosha Pan. The Police arrests 73 demonstrators (14.01.), later 11 of
the accused get small fines and 62 are acquitted (23.06.). |
| 20.01. |
Klaus Dierks declares
that Namibia’s railway system faces a difficult future without
rail connections to the east and north, especially the Angola
railway line from Tsumeb to Oshikango and the Trans Kalahari Railway from
Gobabis to Botswana. TransNamib operates the railway network well and
efficiently, and better than most of its counterparts in sub-Saharan Africa.
There are, nevertheless, areas which do not function optimally, primarily in
the domains of business management, strategic planning, and finance
transparency. The heavy cross-subsidies between TransNamib Rail and the
ailing airline Air Namibia bleed Namibia’s railway system to death. Another
field of concern is TransNamib’s erosion of assets which leads to the huge
financial problems of the Namibian railway company. By this time
TransNamib’s good financial reserves and many of the assets (more than 50%
of all locomotives) are gone. |
| 23.01. |
President Sam
Nujoma's attacks on homosexuals at the beginning of December last year are
supported by an official press release of the SWAPO Party. Organisations
like the National Society for Human Rights (NSFHR) and the Sister Namibia
Collective condemn this release on 30.01., followed by the Legal Assistance
Centre on 06.02. Consequently the Rainbow Project is established. |
| 31.01. |
The government reacts
on increasing pressure to become active in the burning land issue with the
announcement to commence with the expropriation of land on a legal basis.
The German Ambassador, Hanns Schumacher, and the Deputy Minister for Works,
Transport and Communication, Klaus Dierks, officially open the section of
the Trans Caprivi Highway from Divundu at the Okavango River to a point 100
km east of the river. The German Government has financed the project with N$
72 million. The actual costs were N$ 58,5 million. Of the 583 km between
Rundu and Ngoma at the Botswana border, 427 km are now completed. The
section from a point 100 km east of Divundu at the Okavango River to Kongola
at the Kwando River (99 km) is currently under construction and is financed
by the European Union.
The Trans Caprivi Highway (German Section), Km 9
east of Divundu, View to the West, December 2002
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
The Trans Caprivi Highway (German Section), Km 15
east of Divundu, View to the East, December 2002
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
The Trans Caprivi Highway (German Section), Km 50
east of Divundu, View to the West, December 2002
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
The Trans Caprivi Highway (German Section), Km 50
east of Divundu, View to the East, December 2002
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
The Trans Caprivi Highway (German Section), Km 60
east of Divundu, View to the West, December 2002
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
 
The Trans Caprivi Highway (German Section), Km 69
east of Divundu (Omega Interchange), View to the West, December 2002
Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks
The Trans Caprivi Highway (European Union
Section), Km 120 east of Divundu, View to the East, Caprivi Region, May 2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
The Trans Caprivi Highway (European Union
Section), Km 140 east of Divundu, View to the West, Caprivi Region, May 2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
The Trans Caprivi Highway (European Union
Section), Km 160 east of Divundu (40 km west of Kongola), View to the West,
Caprivi Region, May 2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks |
| 04.02. |
A rescue operation is
launched in Frankfurt/Main to save the national airline, Air Namibia, which
faces its biggest financial crisis yet, with possible losses of N$ 40
million. The Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Oskar Valentin
Plichta, mandates the Deputy Minister, Klaus Dierks, to re-open negotiations
with the German airline Lufthansa for a new cooperation agreement between
the Germans and Air Namibia, after the latter had unexpectedly suspended an
earlier agreement. It is common knowledge in aviation circles that Lufthansa
was irritated at the decision by TransNamib Management two years ago to
abruptly and unilaterally cancel the existing well-functioning and
profitable cooperation between the two airlines. Dierks’ mandate includes to
persuade Lufthansa for concrete partnership proposals. But indications are
that the German airline plans to table suggestions to take-over of all Air
Namibia’s international flights. The planned Frankfurt meeting between the
Lufthansa management and Dierks is unexpectedly called of by the airline in
the last moment under the pretext that the German Parliament had just
approved a privatisation law. |
| 06.02. |
A set of four stamps
which picture the pre-colonial ruins of ||Khauxa!nas, which were discovered
by Klaus Dierks in 1987, is released by the commercialised Namibian Post
Agency, NamPost.
   
NamPost Stamps on the ||Khauxa!nas Ruins |
| 01./12.02. |
The annual
Consultative Conference of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
takes place in Windhoek. |
| 12.02. |
President Sam Nujoma
visits India. |
| 14.02. |
USA Vice President,
Albert Gore, pays Namibia a short visit. |
| 20.02. |
The Deputy Minister
for Works, Transport and Communication, Klaus Dierks, addresses the members
of the Windhoek Chamber of Commerce and Industries (WCCI) and launches a
plea to Namibia’s private sector to accept the challenge of becoming
involved in the development of the Walvis Bay Corridor to Namibia’s
landlocked neighbours in the east and north. The transport scheme forms a
wider integrated development chain consisting of the upgraded Port of Walvis
Bay as a hub port for southern Africa with the shortest routes to Europe and
the two Americas as well as the Trans Kalahari and Trans Caprivi transport
links. |
| 02./04.03. |
Malaysia’s Prime
Minister, Mahathir Bin Mohamad, visits Namibia. |
| 05.03. |
The Minister for
Finance, Nangolo Mbumba, tables the Budget for the Financial Year 1997/98.
The real growth is estimated with 1,4% in comparison with 2,5% for 1996/97.
The mining and agricultural sectors go through an decrease in taxes, while
the fishing, manufacturing and financing sectors experience an upswing. The
main problem of the 1997/98 budget is still the over-proportional blown up
civil service. The budget makes provision for an expenditure of N$ 5 750
million, an increase of 13% against 1996/97 which is again more than the
inflation rate of 8,82% for the year. In spite of the calls by the Minister
of Finance to reduce the civil service, the number of officials increased
from 46 600 at independence to a total number of nearly 77 000 civil
servants. The personnel costs represent N$ 2 600 million of the total
operational budget of N$ 4 546 million (79% of the total budget). These
costs stand for an increase of 14% against the previous financial year and
constitute 45% of the total budget. The consequence is that an envisaged
salary increase for middle and low income officials has to be postponed. The
higher ranks, however, have received good increments through the
recommendations of the Wage and Salary Commission (WASCOM). The two sectors
education and health still receive the biggest share of the total
expenditure. The expected deficit of N$ 555 million is estimated with 3,7%
of the GDP. N$ 210 million have to be paid to cover debt interests (3,6% of
the total budget). The capital budget of nearly N$ 1 000 million (17,4% of
the total budget) is again not sufficient to stimulate the economy with
state funded projects in the productive sectors of the country. |
| 11.03. |
The Deputy Minister
for Works, Transport and Communication, Klaus Dierks, announces the
development plan for the road system which has been budgeted for in the
current budget. The highest amount (30%) of the N$ 716 million allocation is
earmarked for road rehabilitation and the application of labour-based
methods. The major share goes to the four northern regions in the former
Ovamboland. Five contractors have already been trained under the labour-based
programme and about of 35 km of labour-intensive built roads completed,
while another 35 km are currently under construction. About 300 additional
jobs have been created and wages totalling more than N$ 1 million are being
paid to workers in the project areas annually. Thirteen major road project
in the north are presently under construction or are on the drawing tables.
All these projects are realised under the ambitious November 1990 road
building programme for the formerly neglected north. |
| 18.03. |
Namibia’s aviation
safety record needs a serious review according to Klaus Dierks. Although
Namibia’s aviation safety is on a par with most countries in the world and
the number of air accidents since Independence, which stood at eight, is far
less than road accidents, authority will not sit back and accept civil
aviation safety as adequate. Recently five lives were lost in a light
aircraft crash in the Naukluft mountains. In order to improve Namibia’s
safety records, an international civil aviation organisation has been
invited to carry out a safety oversight assessment of the civil aviation
sector. Dierks also makes the establishment of the fully fledged
commercialised Namibia Airports Company for April 1998 known. Only eight
major airports will be commercialised at this stage: Windhoek Hosea Kutako
Airport, Eros (Windhoek), Rooikop (Walvis Bay), Keetmanshoop, Lüderitz,
Ondangwa, Rundu and Katima Mulilo. The other 56 smaller airports throughout
the country would also be considered at a later stage. The air navigation
services are not to be commercialised at this stage. |
| 25.03. |
Sam Nujoma visits
Togo.
The Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Klaus Dierks,
announces in his budget speech before the National Assembly detailed plans
to downsize the Ministry from currently 7 500 employees to only a few
hundred (MWTC2000 Project). The new system would make Namibia a frontrunner,
even in developed countries. Under the MWTC2000 project non-core function
would be transferred to more appropriate structures. In the Department of
Works of the Ministry, this will relate to the restructuring and possible
privatisation of the Government Garage. Airports and and the air navigation
control will be reformed as will Namibia’s road system. The reform of the
road sector would consist of a new organisational arrangement and a new
approach to the financing of the road network. In terms of the new road user
charging system, road users will have to pay for the use of roads. The
revenue derived from these charges will be placed into a dedicated road fund
account which can only be used for the road system. The provisional phase of
the new road user charging system will be implemented on 01.04.1998. The
Namibia Road Fund Administration (RFA) is the regulator of the system and
will administer the Road Fund which is fed by the Road User Charges. The
Roads Authority (RA) will be responsible for the management, planning and
design of the national road network. The Namibia Roads Contractor Company (RCC)
is run on private sector principles and will take over all road construction
and maintenance units of the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication. |
| 09.04. |
Sam Nujoma takes part
in the Conference of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)(established
end of 1993 in Kampala, Uganda), the successor organisation of the
Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA) in Lusaka. |
| 11.04. |
Sam Nujoma tries to
assist in the peacemaking process in the ongoing civil war in Angola. For
this purpose he visits Luanda. This peace effort is followed by a further
visit to Angola’s capital on 15./17.05. and 23.07. |
| 12.04. |
Mozambique’s Prime
Minister, Pascoal Mocumbi, visits Namibia. |
| 21.04. |
President Nujoma
participates at the summit of heads of state of the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) in Harare. |
| 23.04. |
Daniel Tjongarero,
Chief Executive Officer of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), dies
in Windhoek. He is succeeded by Ben Mulongeni. |
| 04./05.05. |
Sam Nujoma visits
Kasane in Botswana. The Kasikili Island problem remains a point of conflict
between Namibia and Botswana, although the case has been transferred to the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague for a final solution. A
further conflict arises around the Situndu Island situated between Linyanti
(New Linyanti) and Sangwali, near the village Batubaya. |
| 08.05. |
The current rate of
unemployment is frightening and a solution needs to be found to avoid a
state of affairs which could degenerate into civil war warns the Deputy
Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Klaus Dierks. Addressing a
workshop preparing a draft white paper on labour-based projects he maintains
that such projects would generate more jobs than all Export Processing Zones
(EPZ) combined. Plans are already in motion to recruit many jobless, so that
their labour can be used in numerous labour-based road projects in the north
as well on the envisaged Northern Extension Railway Line from Tsumeb to
Oshikango at the Angola border. At present there are 160 small contractors
operating on labour-based works countrywide who even outbid bigger
equipment-based contractors during the tendering process. Dierks further
observes that there are few initiatives that could claim to address the four
national development goals, which are to revive and sustain economic growth,
create employment, reduce inequalities between Namibians and eradicate
poverty. A well-formulated and rationally implemented national policy on
labour-based works could target all these goals. |
| 12.05. |
The Namibian business
personality, Werner List, presents Sam Nujoma with five farms (between Outjo
and Otavi) for land re-distribution purposes. This is done at the occasion
of Nujoma’s 68<sup>th</sup> birthday. |
| 18.05. |
The Deputy Minister
for Works, Transport and Communication, Klaus Dierks, announces that the USA
Government (US Trade Development Agency (TDA)) has agreed in principle to
finance a planning study for the proposed Northern Extension Railway Line
from Tsumeb to Oshikango (N$ 1,5 million). The idea is to link this railway
line with the Angolan railway network at Cassinga (Mossamedes Railway Line).
The railway link was agreed during President Nujoma’s state visit to Angola
from 15.05. to 17.05. Dierks was part of the negotiations with Angolan
President Dos Santos. |
| 20.05. |
President Sam Nujoma
receives a honourable doctoral degree from Rutgers University in New York. |
| 28.05./01.06 |
The second SWAPO
Congress after independence takes place in Windhoek. The main topic is a
further term for President Sam Nujoma. Such a further term in office would
require an amendment to the Namibian Constitution which is accomplishable
due to SWAPO’s majority of 72% in the National Assembly. It can be argued
that Nujoma’s first term was not in agreement with Namibia’s Constitution,
because this term was the consequence of the UNO-supervised Elections for
the Constituent Assembly, 1989. The Party Congress refers a decision on this
controversial topic to an Extraordinary Party Congress which is planned for
1998. In his opening speech President Nujoma demands a higher participation
of women in party organs. This is met with little response by the Congress
participants. A new Central Committee (70 members) is elected with 58 new
members, but only seven members are female. The new SWAPO Central Committee
could face credibility problems following claims that the voting procedure
and the execution of the election is a mess during the early night hours of
Sunday, 01.06. The election of the Vice President of SWAPO is accompanied by
strong lobbying between different party factions. Hage Gottfried Geingob who
challenges the existing Vice President, Hendrik Witbooi, is beaten. With 198
out of 337 votes (58%) Witbooi is the clear victor in the race. The vacant
position of Secretary-General is filled by the Minister for Fisheries and
Marine Resources, Lucas Hifikepunye Pohamba. |
| June |
The Ministry for
Labour and Human Resources Development releases the newest unemployment
statistics. There it is established that the number of job seekers from 1991
to 1994 has risen to 64 000 while only 24 000 new job opportunities were
created in the same period. The Deputy Minister of Labour, John Shaetonhodi,
expressed the view, that these figures represent a ticking time bomb. This
time bomb is aggravated by renewed demonstrations of Ex-PLAN soldiers who
demonstrate for jobs, but not for land, at various places in Windhoek
(06.05.; 23.06.; 23.10.) and Oshakati (31.10.). The Government reacts with
the creation of additional jobs in various ministries, the Namibian Police
and Defence Force. |
| 02./04.06. |
Sam Nujoma takes part
at the OAU summit at Harare. |
| 17.06. |
Cabinet’s approval of
a memorandum: "Political Office Bearers Privileges and Benefits" results in
a storm of protest of a number of Namibian organisations like the NUNW and
the CCN. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Ben Amathila,
condemns the leaking of this secret document as an act of theft (13.08.).
Further results are that the purchase of a new presidential aeroplane by the
Ministry for Works, Transport and Communication is halted on 12.09. On
15.09. President Sam Nujoma announces that most of the privileges for
Political Office Bearers will be cancelled due to the fact that he was not
present during this controversial cabinet meeting. Ministers have to pay
back the already received benefits and are even losing the tax part of the
payments. |
| 02./05.07. |
President Nujoma
visits Ndola in Zambia, followed by a visit to Kinshasa in the Democratic
Republic Congo (DRC)(20.07.). |
| 07./08.07. |
Shortly after his
coupe d’etat, the new President of the Democratic Republic Congo (DRC),
Laurent Desire Kabila, visits Namibia. This state visit results in a close
friendship between the two countries. |
| 24.07. |
Sam Nujoma takes part
at the African-American Summit Conference in Harare. |
| 27.07. |
The Namibian National
Soccer Team, Brave Warriors, reaches with a draw against Gabon the African
Nations Cup. This success story is only surpassed by the successes of
Namibia’s "run miracle", Frankie Fredericks. |
| 30.07. |
The Central
Intelligence Service Bill is promulgated. |
| 26.07./05.08. |
President Sam Nujoma
visits Indonesia and Malaysia. |
| 15.08. |
The Deputy Minister
for Works, Transport and Communication, Klaus Dierks, opens a new labour-based
road project between Oshakati and Ompundja. This is one of four labour
intensive projects which is financed by the German Government (Kreditanstalt
für Wiederaufbau (KfW)) and creates 800 additional job opportunities
from the local community. |
| 22.08. |
Margaret Thatcher
pays Namibia a visit. |
| 13.09. |
A German military
plane (Tupolev TU-154M) has a head on head collision west of the northern
Namibian Atlantic coast (flight: Abidjan to Pretoria) with a US military
transport plane (Lockheed C141 "Starlifter)(flight: Windhoek to USA). There
are no survivors on both planes, altogether 33 die. The German Minister of
Defence, Volker Rühe, accuses immediately the Namibian air navigation
services of the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication to be
responsible for the tragedy. This is rejected by the Deputy Minister, Klaus
Dierks, because it is quickly established that the navigational preparations
on the German side were deficient, and the German pilot used the wrong
flight level. This is later acknowledged by the German Government. Later
Dierks has to draw the attention of the military experts of the German
investigation team that the Republic of Namibia is a sovereign state and
that they have no right to give any orders to Namibian officials. |
| 19.09. |
The Minister for
Labour, Moses Makue 5Garoëb,
dies after a long sickbed. He is honoured by the first state funeral of the
Republic of Namibia on 27.09. |
| 30.09. |
The Minister for
Land, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, Pendukeni Iivula Ithana, tables the
White Book on the Land Issue in the National Assembly. The White Book
supports a land distribution in favour of the historically disadvantaged,
landless Namibians. Any redistribution has to happen in accordance with the
legal principles of the Namibian Constitution. Foreigners may only have
title deeds on farm land with the approval of the Ministry for Land,
Resettlement and Rehabilitation. |
| 02./05.10. |
Malawi’s President,
Bakile Muluzi, pays a visit to President Nujoma. |
| 04.10. |
Ombara (tradtional
title) Christiaan Eerike Zeraua is sworn in as traditional leader of the
Zeraua Traditional Authority in Omatjette. |
| 23./29.10. |
President Sam Nujoma
visits the United Kingdom. |
| 03.11. |
The third definitive
stamp series with Namibian natural heritages (flowers and animals)(no
watermark) is issued. |
| 05.11. |
The Minister for
Finance, Nangolo Mbumba, tables an Additional Budget for the Financial Year
1997/98. This Additional Budget of N$ 403 million is mainly caused by
additional expenditures for salaries for civil servants according to the
proposals of the Wage and Salary Commission (WASCOM) and measures to cope
unemployment among Ex-PLAN soldiers as well as due to the weakening Namibia
Dollar against hard currencies and increased interests to cover the debts.
With the revised budget the expected deficit is increasing from 3,7% to 4,4%
of the GDP. New loans of N$ 333 million have to be covered on the domestic
capital market. The budget deficit is also increased by unauthorised
overdrafts of 12 ministerial votes out of a total of 27.
The German Ambassador to Namibia, Hanns Schumacher, leaves the country. |
| 07.11. |
Sam Nujoma represents
Namibia at the Africa/Caribbean/Pacific (ACP)-European Union (EU) Summit in
Gabon. |
| 18.11. |
Indonesia’s
President, Suharto, visits Namibia. Simultaneously Prince Guillaume of
Luxembourg stays in the country. |
| 19.11. |
The second elections
for the Regional Councils and Local Authorities which were scheduled for the
beginning of December are postponed to February 1998, due to some formal
omissions by the Election Commission. |
| 26.11. |
President Sam Nujoma
visits Cape Town. |
| 27.11. |
The Deputy Minister
for Works, Transport and Communication, Klaus Dierks, acknowledges during
the eight Regional African and Middle East Meeting of the International
Federation of Air Traffic Controller’s Association (IFACTDA) that the
existing aviation infrastructure and manpower can no longer cope with the
phenomenal growth in air traffic over the African continent and in the
country. Air traffic over Namibia has increased by 23% since independence
and by 300% over the African continent since sanctions against South Africa
were lifted some four years ago. The Namibian aviation authorities have
therefore embarked on a programme to upgrade and replace the existing
infrastructure, and to optimise the training of aviation personnel. Although
Namibia is not among the African countries listed as deficient, any
problematic situation affects Namibia, and it can only be as strong as its
weakest link. |
| 28.11. |
Dierks signs with the
representative of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), Per
Person, an cooperation-agreement between Sweden and Namibia in the transport
and communication sectors. |
| 09.12. |
Speaking on Air
Namibia’s strategic planning seminar, Dierks warns that after the world-wide
trend of "open skies policy" many of the bigger airlines formed amalgamated
air carriers, degrading smaller airlines like Air Namibia to "feeder
airlines". In order to cope with the new situation, Air Namibia has to form
partnerships with strong, efficient and reliable airlines in order to
survive. Against this background Air Namibia should be subsidised as a form
of protectionism. These subsidies should, however, not be forthcoming from
the government or the airline’s holding company, TransNamib, but from those
sectors of Namibia’s economy which benefit the most from the international
flights, mainly the tourism industry. Air Namibia has run into big losses
during the current financial year and in the past. These losses are even
much higher if when the overhead costs of the TransNamib are included. The
losses by Air Namibia, especially on the inter-continental routes, are
absorbed by cross-subsidisation. This leads to resources of other sectors
within TransNamib, such as the railways, being depleted. |
| 10.12. |
The completion of the
Trans Kalahari Highway in Namibia and Botswana shortens by more than 400 km
the distance between Walvis Bay and the Gauteng Province in South Africa
which will lessen transport costs and which will bring Namibia closer to the
most dominant business and industrial sector in southern Africa. |
| 11.12. |
President Nujoma
announces his third cabinet re-shuffle during his second term. The Minister
for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Lucas Hifikepunye Pohamba, is
established as Minister without Portefolio. The present Deputy Minister for
Fisheries, Abraham Iyambo, becomes his successor. Alpheus !Naruseb is
appointed as Deputy Minister of Fisheries. The Minister for Wildlife,
Conservation and Tourism, Gerd Hanekom, is relocated to State House as
Economic Advisor to the President. The Minister for Defence, Phillemon
Malima, follows Hanekom. Erikki Nghimtina becomes Minister for Defence. The
vacant position of the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs is filled by
Tuliameni Kalomoh. The Chairman of the SWAPO Elders Council, Kanana Hishoono,
becomes Political Advisor to the President. |
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