The Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, has ordered the Outjo Municipality to re-advertise for the position of Chief Executive Officer.

This follows allegations of irregularities and an alleged flawed interview process last year.

The municipality has been without a CEO since April last year after Josel |Urib retired. 

|Urib's contract was extended but abruptly cancelled in August last year.

Otjozondjupa Regional Council has welcomed the creation of the special wildlife court in the region as a means to speedily handle cases and deter would-be offenders dealing in protected game products.

This sentiment was shared by Otjozondjupa Regional Council Chairperson, Marlene Mbakera, during a courtesy call to the Governor's office by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs at the Otjiwarongo.

According to Mbakera, the region's central location makes it an entry and exit zone for poachers.

Learners at the Okakarara Primary Schools are being taught in tents after their classroom blocks were damaged by heavy wind storms two weeks ago.

This is the situation facing over 650 learners, who will have to brave it out in tents until renovations are done on the damaged classrooms.

According to the school principal, Erastus Martin, 15 tents have been put up on the school premises as a temporary measure to not interrupt learning.

Plans to repatriate 201 Namibian descendents from Botswana to Gam Settlement in the Otjozondjupa Region have hit a snag.

Otjozondjupa Governor James Uerikua confirmed that the initial plan to repatriate the community by the end of this year is stalled due to logistical challenges.

Uerikua points to transportation challenges, including the suggested travel dates for moving the people, their furniture, and their livestock of about 18,000.

A total of 359 recruits graduated from the Lucius Mahoto Correctional Training College at Omaruru in the Erongo Region.

They are now looking forward to being deployed across the region.

Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety, and Security Minister, Dr. Albert Kawana, says the deployment of the graduates will address a myriad of challenges at correctional centres and add value to their operations.

The graduates, comprising 246 males and 127 females, started training in March this year, completing an intensive training course at the end of November.

The Otjozondjupa Regional Police have received three brand new police vehicles from the Road Fund Administration (RFA) for the police stations of Okakarara, Grootfontein, and Otjiwarongo.

One of the vehicles has been mounted with the jaws of life equipment.

It will be temporarily stationed at Farm Sukses, south of Otjiwarongo, to assist until the emergency centre has been set up to cut response time between Otjiwarongo and Okahandja.

As road carnage continues to claim the lives of Namibians at an alarming rate, Otjozondjupa Region, which is one of the accident-prone hotspot regions, has recorded a decline in fatalities and injuries to date as compared to 2022.

MVA's Regional Head of Accident and Injury Prevention, Daniel Mouton, shared this rather good development during the official launch of the 2023–2024 Otjozondjupa Festive Season Road Safety Launch at Otjiwarongo.

Mouton says this year alone, the region recorded 223 car accidents, of which 480 resulted in injuries and 45 fatalities.

The Kunene Region has resorted to hiring private transport for the distribution of drought relief in the region.

This was revealed by the Kunene Regional Governor, Marius Sheya, following concerns raised by Khorixas Constituency Councillor, Sebastian !Gobs, who last month indicated that the distribution programme is hampered by a lack of transportation.

The Kunene Region accounts for close to 30,000 people who have been affected by the prolonged and extreme drought since 2013, which has put a strain on food security and agricultural activities.

The Central North Regional Electricity Distributor (Cenored) has commenced the rollout of the TID (Tokens Identifier) project under the theme “Get Your Prepaid Metres Updated—Don't Be Left In The Dark”. 

The rollout exercise will result in 55,000 prepaid meters in the operational areas being upgraded by July 2024.

If the metres are not updated, they will cease to function on November 24, 2024.

The commencement of the TID was confirmed by the company's Corporate Communications and Marketing Officer, Chali Matengu.