The Khwe or Barakhwena people of the western Caprivi will elect a new chief in the near future. Their former leader, Chief Kipi George died in December 2000. The Khwe belong to the San or Bushmen people. They have tried several times to receive official recognition as a tribal authority from the government, but to no avail. The Working Group of Indigenous Minorites in Osuthern Africa (WIMSA) whith its head office in Windhoek announced at the end of last week, that the Khwe headmen would meet at Omega 1 in the western Caprivi on 18 April to discuss the rules and a date for the election. At the same occasion, they will open a new community development office there. The Khwe community also managed to get a hunting quota for the 2006 hunting season for the Bwabwata Park, formerly known as Caprivi game reserve. Proceeds from the hunting quota will earn extra income for the San people.

Two local AIDS organisation will not be able to attend a UN general assembly special session (UNGASS) on AIDS in New York next month, as it was excluded from the list, which the Namibian government compiled, the group claims. The Aids and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA) condemned the Namibian government for this in a statement on Tuesday. The other group is the Aids Law Unit of the Legal Assistance Centre. At the UN meeting in May civil rights groups are also attending, but their choice was left to individual governments. According to lawyer Michaela Clayton, how heads the ARASA office in Windhoek, 2 similar groups in South Africa were also scratched from the list by the Pretoria government

Both groups published open letters to President Pohamba and President Mbeki in the internet protesting the ban. Supporters can sign the open letters which are to be delivered at a alter stage to both presidents with the signatures.

Millions of dollars of taxpayers’ monies are pumped into government media each year without any hope of making profits, the annual reports of NBC, the government paper New Era and the government news agency Nampa revealed. The reports were tabled in Parliament this week. The annual report of Nampa revealed losses of N$1,36 million for the financial year ending in March 2004, despite a hefty government subsidy of N$ 6,58 million. Nampa’s income from subscriptions of media clients only came to N$1,38 million. The New Era newspaper started to publish on a daily basis in August 2004, a change from only 2 editions per week. In the annual report for the financial year ending in March 2005, New Era states on page 4 that the switch to a daily paper with some 10,000 copies cost the government newspaper dearly and could not be sustained for much longer, unless the government puts even more money into New Era. Newspaper sales in the year under review came to N$ 823,752, while earnings through advertising brought in N$ 5,06 million and printing costs accumulated to N$ 2,48 million. Total expenditure for New Era came to N$ 9,74 million. The government subsidy for that year came to N$6,54 million of taxpayer’s money. Losses for New Era were N$ N$ 1,69 million. The questionable joint venture between New Era and the Zimbabwean government in the form of the regional newspaper Southern Times cost the Namibian government through New Era some N$ 795,295 dollars until March 2005.

The NBC is in the worst situation. In its annual report for the financial year ending March 2004, the NBC raked in only N$ 29,01 million, mainly from television and radio licences and advertisements. The government subsidy for that year was N$ 103,9 million.