namibia - The African Mirror

Dec

2020

Namibia to auction 170 elephants over drought, increased population

NAMIBIA has put 170 "high value" wild elephants up for sale due to drought and an increase in elephant numbers, the southern African country's environmental ministry said on Wednesday. An advertisement carried by state-owned daily New Era said an increase in incidents of human-elephant conflict motivated the sale of the large mammal that is at risk of extinction due to poaching and ecological factors. The Ministry of Environment Forestry and Tourism said it would auction the animals to anyone in Namibia or abroad who could meet the strict criteria, which include quarantine facilities and a game-proof fence certificate for the…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

More than 7,000 dead seals found along Namibian beach – conservation group

ENVIRONMENT

THE number of dead seals found washed ashore on the coast of Namibia has risen to more than 7,000, according to non-profit group Ocean Conservation Namibia (OCN). OCN said last week thousands of dead seal pups had washed ashore at Pelican Point peninsula, a tourist destination known for its colony of seals and school of dolphins. Naude Dreyer, a marine biologist at OCN, said investigations in the past week had revealed a spike in the number of dead female adults. "What we have been observing is less freshly dead seal pups and a lot of dead female adults," he said…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Namibia ‘on the brink of catastrophe’ after thousands of dead seal pups wash ashore

NEWS

THOUSANDS of dead seal pups have washed ashore on the coast of Namibia, a conservancy group has revealed. The pups were found at Pelican Point peninsula, a tourist destination known for its colony of seals and school of dolphins. Drone footage taken by Ocean Conservation Namibia (OCN) shows the coast dotted with more than 5,000 dead seal pups, the group said. "We are sitting at the cusp of a catastrophe. There are literally thousands of seal pups being born prematurely and dying almost immediately," it said in an Instagram post. It said previously some female seals had been observed to…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Namibia weighs demands for rape crackdown after street protests

NEWS

NDAPEWOSHALI SHAPWANALE STREET protests that led to the arrest of 25 women's rights activists in Namibia at the weekend have prompted the government to launch an urgent review to consider their demands for tougher penalties for rape and sexual abuse. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Windhoek, the city of Walvis Bay and a town north of the capital, Otjiwarongo, after police said they believed they had found the remains of a 20-year-old woman who went missing earlier this year. Police detained 25 demonstrators, including two journalists, on Saturday for violating the country's coronavirus lockdown curbs, but the…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Namibia fishing auction for COVID-19 cash flops

BUSINESS

NYASHA NYAUNGWA A fisheries auction in Namibia meant to pay for COVID-19 care has flopped, after bidders stumped up barely 1.3% of the $38 million offers accepted, the finance minister said on Wednesday. The government blamed speculators for the failure. In August, the government said it would auction its 60% share of the annual horse mackerel and hake output by the end of October, to raise funds for equipment and medicines. That 60% quota is normally reserved for state-owned company Fishcor, which has been caught up in a corruption scandal. It included 11,000 tonnes of hake, 72,000 tonnes of horse…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Reframing women in Namibia’s early history of photography

LITERATURE

LORENA RIZZO, Senior lecturer, University of Basel WOMEN photographers, and black African women photographers in particular, are largely absent from early histories of the medium. Even in South Africa, which has attracted more attention than other parts of the continent, few women photographers from the early and mid-1900s appear in the historical record. There are even fewer whose work has been collected and received serious treatment, like Constance Stuart Larrabee and Anne Fisher. Women photographers in Namibia have languished in even greater obscurity, and scholarship that embraces this neglected history is only just emerging. My new book Photography and History…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Intelligence helps Namibia turn tide against rhino poachers, government says

NEWS

INCIDENTS of rhino poaching in Namibia have been dropping steadily as timely intelligence work has helped nab hunters before they shoot in known hotspots, the government has said. Joint police and government task forces have proven "extremely successful", the spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism said, with intelligence enabling a proactive, rather than reactive, response. "Instead of the discovery of a dead rhino initiating an investigation, would-be poachers are now regularly arrested while they are still conspiring to kill a rhino," Romeo Muyunda said in a statement celebrating World Rhino Day. It said just 22 rhinos have…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Namibia to allow international travel, lift COVID state of emergency

COVID-19

THE Namibian government has announced that it will open up the country for international travel from September 18, as it ends a six-month-long state of emergency with the average number of daily coronavirus cases trending downwards. President Hage Geingob, during a media briefing, said the government had considered the economic implications of continuing the restrictions and the state of preparedness of its hospitals. The announcement comes a day after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country would allow international travel from October and lifted almost all lockdown restrictions with effect from September 21. Namibia's economy which relies heavily on…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Namibia eases coronavirus restrictions to attract tourists

NEWS

NAMIBIA has further eased restrictions for international tourists to try to prevent the collapse of a sector hit by the coronavirus pandemic after the country closed its borders in March. The Tourism Ministry has announced that tourists could go to their pre-booked destinations and take part in activities for up to five days, after which they will be tested for the virus. If they stay at their pre-booked destination for less than five days they can proceed to another destination without a test. In rules introduced in July, tourists had to quarantine at their first destination for seven days, which…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Namibia opens airports and schools but extends overnight curfew

COVID-19

NAMIBIA will lift lockdown restrictions, allowing international travel, schools to reopen and onsite alcohol consumption from September, President Hage Geingob has announced, but he extended an overnight curfew as Covid-19 cases continue to rise. The southern African country of two million now has 6,906 confirmed COVID-19 cases and the disease is not yet contained -- of its 65 deaths, 55 were in August alone. But as with other southern African nations, leaders are weighing the impact of the virus against the huge economic and social damage done by lockdowns. "The virus is likely to remain in our midst for a…