After two years of many obstacles and tough negotiations with government the municipal police force for Windhoek will come into force on 1 July 2003. Making the announcement on Wednesday, the City’s chief executive officer, Mr Martin Shipanga said 115 police members for the "Peace Force" would be needed for the traffic unit plus 137 posts for the crime prevention unit. Already 84 posts of the traffic department were filled with current staff and 101 new member need to be recruited for the crime unit. In total, the 115 new posts would be filled over 3 years until 2006. Windhoek will be divided into 4 zones, each having a core unit of five members. For the traffic police the city was divided into 2 zones. To finance the municipal police force a levy of N$ 16 per household and up to N$ 300 for businesses would be charged. The levy would remain fixed for 3 years. About N$ 30 million would be generated by the levy, Shipanga noted. The remaining N$ 5.9 million would be generate from other revenue sources. The CEO further pointed out that customers owed the City N$ 160,4 million in outstanding arrears, of which N$ 22 million were owed by businesses and N$ 58 million by residents, who had accounts higher than N$ 5000. Those with accounts below N$ 5000 owed the City N$ 38,5 million. The government still had not paid a promised subsidy of N$ 58 million, so overall the City had outstanding arrears of N$ 218,4 million, Shipanga lamented.

The year 2002 was an exceptional year for Namdeb with diamond sales up by 20% at N$ 4,1 billion, also due to a better US dollar exchange rate. The MD of the diamond mining company, Ms Inge Zaamwani at a media briefing on Tuesday said operating income thus increased from N$ 1,55 billion in 2001 to N$ 1,80 billion last year. Net earnings came to N$ 556 million compared to N$ 487 million in 2001. The Namibian government, which owns 50% in Namdeb, received payments of N$ 1,24 billion as a result. However, total carats mined decreased with 108 805 to 1 275 889 million carats fro the period under review, mainly due to shortfalls from beach and marine contractors. About 28 million tonnes of rock and soil were treated in the search for diamonds. Namdeb set aside N$ 3,2 billion over the next 3 years to extend the life of the mine, while offshore mining wold play an increasingly significant role in the future of diamond mining in the country. Production in 2002 concentrated on 5 areas: Orange River mine, Mining Area 1, Elizabeth Bay, Bogenfels and Atlantic 1.

The minister of trade and industry, Jesaya Nyamu, launched the first ever truly Namibian investor of the Year campaign this week. Together with the Namibia Investment Centre and the Offshore Development Company, the campaign was created to reward leading companies in the agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, mining, tourism and services sectors. During a gala dinner on 3 October 2003, the companies that best exemplified and towards Namibia’s industrialisation will be honoured. Companies will be evaluated on their corporate social responsibility, investment amount and their contributories towards foreign exchange generation, innovation, job creation, skills development and value addition. The judges are Dr Christina Swart-Opperman of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, diamond commissioner Mr Kennedy Hamutenya, Dr Victoria Nicodemus, MD of Namibia Wildlife Resorts, Mr Gerry Munyama, DG of NBC, Mr Steven Ambabi of the ministry of fisheries, Mr Freddie !Gaoseb of the Offshore Development Company and Mr Phillip Namunjebo of the Namibia Investment Centre. Application forms for the award are available at the ministry’s head office and regional offices.

The ghost of a dubious loan of N$ 25 million hastily given in April 1998 to Quando Holdings, a company belonging to the brother-in-law of President Nujoma returned to haunt government officials and members of parliament this week. During a public hearing on expenditures of various ministries for the financial year of 1997/98, the new permanent secretary to the finance ministry, Mr Calle Schlettwein, had had little time to acquaint himself in depth with previous payments made from the contingency fund.

According to Auditor general Dr Fanuel Tjingaete, the 25 million were given to Quando Holdings to buy fish, salt and meat for the Democratic Republic of Congo under Laurent Kabila, the father of the present head of state. There was no Cabinet decision (in writing), Tjingaete lamented in his report, to authorise this "revolving loan" for the DRC government with Quando Holdings as active agent. So far, only N$ 3,1 million were paid back. Dr Tjingaete described the loan as irregular. During the hearing for the ministry of local, regional government and housing the N $ 6 million frauded during the NHE housing scandal, a few years ago also remained an unanswered question. The parliamentary standing committee on public accounts, which conducted the hearings chaired by Mr Johan de Waal, vowed to get to the bottom of the issue.