Windhoek residents had to endure long queues when paying water and electricity bills after the sudden termination of the agreement between NamPost and the City of Windhoek a short while ago. Since Wednesday, 9 April municipal cash halls in town, Katutura and Khomasdal are open from 08h00 to 18h00 and Saturdays from 09h00 to 12h00. According to the City’s strategic executive for economic development, tourism and recreation, Mr Hafeni Nghinamwaami, more cashiers would now be available between 08h00 until 16h00, to provide an improved service to Windhoek residents. Alternatively, customers could make use of transaction payments at ATM machines of commercial banks. Bank Windhoek’s Chris Matthee told the joint media briefing that customers at his bank could make use of iBank and EPAC electronic banking facilities to make direct payments to the City of Windhoek as well as other institutions.

Until recently, all municipal bills could be settled at all post offices. At renewal of the contract between NamPost and the municipality, NamPost allegedly demanded a substantial increase fro agency fees, which was too high for the City.

About 50 representatives of the Namibian fisheries sector, particularly the hake industry held a one-day conference in Windhoek on Wednesday to discuss pros and cons of possible eco-labelling of Namibian fish products, as already done with certain fish species in inter alia Chile, Alaska, South Africa and some Asian countries. The certification system established a few years ago by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in London, UK is a voluntary assessment for responsible and sustainable exploitation of certain fish species by the MSC and is based on a code of conduct for responsible fisheries of FAO (Food & Agricultural Organisation) which is affiliated to the UN. If the costly process is successful, companies may use the MSC logo on their products. The minister of fisheries and marine resources in his keynote address said the subject was not without controversies and he wanted to know which role the FAO would play globally in the certification process. He urged stakeholders to define the role of multinationals and environmentally NGO’s in the eco-labelling process.

Mr Angel Tordesillas of NovaNam cautioned that the role of the Namibian government, its regulatory measures and the certification body could overlap.

The Aids pandemic was a chronic viral infection and thus manageable with the right anti-retroviral therapy, according to Mr Charles Parsons, motivational speaker and owner of a leading HIV disease management company. Addressing about 200 business people in Windhoek on Wednesday organised by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, he stressed the importance of Aids management plans for companies. The object was to keep staff and workforce out of hospitals, thus reducing absenteeism, medical fees and disability payouts. Costs for anti-retroviral medication had come down considerably, Parsons said and were in the vicinity of around 400 N$ per employee per month, cheaper than a monthly supply of cigarettes for a smoker. He emphasised that Namibian companies should adhere to recommendations of the internationally respected King II Report, which also dealt with Aids management for businesses. Namdeb is the first company in Namibia, which decided to provide HIV positive employees with ART. Meanwhile the Namibia National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NCCI) set up an Aids help desk for its corporate members to provide distance and guidelines for them on Aids management in their businesses.

A visit to Ramatex by members of parliament to textile giant Ramatex last week still did not silence critics from oppositional ranks. According to DTA president Katuutire Kaura, the MP’s were not shown the environmental safety aspects of the factory, only the "massiveness of the investment." Briefing media this week on the narrow DTA victory against Swapo during the recent by-election in Rehoboth, Kaura used the opportunity to raise his concerns against Ramatex, although he and his party welcomed the investment in principle. Salaries for workers at Ramatex were only N$ 580.00 a month, he had found out during the visit, Kaura said, which in his opinion was too little. He wondered why the trade unions remained silent about the low salaries at the textile factory, he told media.

Last year a further 3 770 former PLAN fighters who were unemployed since the end of the liberation struggle in 1989, were employed by the government. This brought the total number of jobless and re-integrated former combatants to 17 000 since independence, according to the director general of the National Planning Commission, Mrs Saraa Kuugongelwa-Amathila. Motivating her vote in the budget debate this week she added that under the social re-integration programme (SIPE) for former PLAN fighters, which is run under the auspices of the NPC, 990 war orphans received financial assistance through SIPE so that they could complete their schooling.