The Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) has surpassed the one million mark in voter registration.

Those who have not registered yet only have nine days to register, and the date will not be extended.

The general voter registration, which started on the 3rd of June, ends next week Thursday.

Following complaints from some quarters, the ECN says it has employed several strategies to smoothen and expedite the process, such as equipping registration points with multiple kits.

There are indications that farmers in various parts of the country are heeding the advice to destock their herds, as more than 5,000 have applied for marketing incentives.

The Office of the Prime Minister says it has observed a notable trend among farmers to participate in marketing incentives to mitigate the impact of drought.

This is contained in the Drought Situation Report of June, released by the Directorate of Disaster Risk Management under the Office of the Prime Minister.

The executive management of the nbc met with ||Kharas Governor Aletha Frederick and other stakeholders at Keetmanshoop to discuss the prospects of hosting the pageant in the region. 

The Luderitz Waterfront Development Company expressed interest in hosting the coveted pageants at Luderitz. 

Against this backdrop, the nbc executive management, led by its Chief News and Programming Officer, Menesia Muinjo, held consultations with stakeholders. 

The Omaheke, ||Kharas, and Hardap regions will now benefit from the drought relief programme, effective from July 1st, 2023, to March 2024.

Currently, about 695,000 people are food insecure, and Deputy Prime Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah appealed to officials to register only people who meet the criteria.

She said there are signs of people being registered when they do not qualify, a situation that might defeat the purpose.

The Governor of ||Kharas Aletha Frederick has urged the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure, and Roads to familiarise themselves with rural road infrastructure.

Frederick highlighted that many communities are isolated during heavy rain seasons and natural disasters due to inadequate road networks.

Frederick states that the quality of the national road infrastructure in ||Kharas is still regarded as one of the finest in the country.

Furthermore, she notes that Namibian roads are among the top-ranked in Africa.

The ||Kharas Regional Council is making progress in implementing infrastructure development projects despite slow movement due to budgetary constraints.

Government agencies gave a progress report on capital projects for the 2022–2023 financial year during a Regional Development Coordination Committee meeting at Keetmanshoop.

Among the developmental projects underway is the construction of the ||Kharas Regional Council Office Park, which stands at 97% complete, while the Karasburg West Constituency Office stands at 87% complete.

The anticipated establishment of an electricity supply and distribution company for the southern regions has raised the ire of residents, who say they were not consulted.
 
Local authorities and regional councils in the Hardap and ||Kharas Regions are expected to own shares in the company through the transfer of their electrical network assets to the company.

Infuriated residents from Mariental and Keetmanshoop protested against not being consulted, saying they fear the development will result in higher electricity tariffs.

With the influx of people to Oranjemund in the ||Kharas Region since its proclamation as a local authority, the former mining town faces an acute housing shortage.

Against this backdrop, the town council began housing projects to address the housing squeeze.

A N$27 million bulk services construction project for low-cost housing was recently completed at the former mining town, at Extension 11.

50 shack dwellers' houses had been constructed on the 320 available serviced plots at the extension.

||Kharas Governor Aletha Frederick has reminded the regional political leadership to uphold the country's constitution.
 
She made the call during the Regional Development Update address.

Governor Frederick says she could not deliver the State of the Region Address for the third consecutive year; it is being replaced by the Regional Development Update Address.

She maintains that the ||Kharas Regional Council has denied her request to carry out her constitutional obligation to deliver the SORA since 2019.

The Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Sylvia Makgone, commended Golden Fin Fishing Masters for using part of their allocated fishing quota to drill two boreholes and build water infrastructure for the community of !Gainachas in the ||Kharas Region.

As part of their social corporate responsibility programme, Golden Fin Fishing Masters Group drilled two boreholes and installed associated infrastructure at a cost of N$215,000 in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Forestry.