I am sad to have to post this as my second not too happy story for 2008. Lets hope things turn for the better.

It was a calm and cool morning; at least it started that way. On my way into town to return last night’s movie, Shoot ‘Em Up, not highly recommended by the way, I was confronted by a young man of no more than twenty. I had noticed him on my way over the bridge with a gang of other youths, but I had not thought much of it. I did hear a little bit of shouting as I passed. I suppose they were organizing the crew.

I had reached a busy intersection and was waiting for my time to cross. This guy got right up in front of me and was motioning at my DVD in hand. I calmly told him to buzz off and be on his way. That’s when Mr. Knifey made an appearance. Now Mr. Knifey said a lot without even saying a word. Mr. Knifey meant business unlike what I had expected from his companion now standing right in front of me.

Here I was experiencing my first ever encounter with a stick up in Namibia, actually it was my first stick up ever. Wait, that’s not entirely true, I was jumped when I was 17 or so and had my bike stolen. But this was different. Or it felt different. I was surprised that this was happening in broad daylight, it wasn’t even 11am. I was most shocked that this was happening in peaceful little Windhoek. I have always been a strong promoter of the safe and relaxed environment in central Windhoek.

My heart raced. I was caught in a moment I won’t ever completely recall because it was entirely fueled by instinct and quick and decisive decision. I was requested that I give up my money. “Give me the money, give me the money!!!” The money? Oh you mean my money??

I backed up as soon as Mr. Knifey made his first appearance. I noticed one other crew member circling me from the rear but he was much less vocal and aggressive. He was probably still in training.

Mr. Knifey advanced with his companion and somehow got me by the shirt. I was still dazed but managed to stall a moment or two as requests were beckoned “Give me the money, give me the money!!!”

Instinct, man it’s an interesting thing. Somewhere up there calculations were being made about timing, probability, outcomes, etc. Before I even could imagine I had pushed this guy away from me with my left hand and shocked as he was I had a moment of solitude once again. With him went a good portion of my button up shirt which was now exposing most of my chest. I glanced around me, cars everywhere, people also waiting at the light on our island of confusion. I am sure that some people took note of the situation but unfortunately not an officer in site.

As the light had now changed, we’re talking about 120 seconds for our little encounter; I began to make my way across the street. I looked back and Mr. Knifey and companion were in pursuit. I ran, I ran so far away. I did not want to meet this crew for a second encounter.

When I got to the video store I was clearly out of breath and looked quite shaken. I was hoping to find a familiar face there but it was a new employee. My shirt was in tatters and I was sweaty and frazzled.

I was fortunate to bump into someone I knew on the main strip and get some consolation. But I have not settled down, even now. There are so many potential paths that situation could have taken.

I for one think that Mr. Knifey was only for clout and would not have been used even in the most extreme of cases. That may be a fairly naive presumption but looking into this guys eyes I could not see the kind of rage or desperation which would be required to break skin on another human being. What madness it would take to run a knife through another’s body. I certainly cannot fathom such aggression and disregard for life.

Now a little bubble has been shattered and my care free attitude of hitting the streets in the city will be constantly challenged. I had heard of stories of ‘jackings’ from people but considered them always to be isolated cases where opportunity was presented. In my case a very slim opportunity was presented as I stopped at the light. What a bold and risky opportunity these guys took to confront me in the middle of a busy intersection. I’ll be watching my six whenever I am in town in the future.

A special note to family and friends, I really hope this does not worry you too much. This sort of thing could happen in any city or town in the world, most likely with much more aggression and higher risks involved. Believe you me; I will be taking much better care as I travel in the future.

Brownouts inevitable
BRIGITTE WEIDLICH

NAMPOWER has warned that forced load shedding and time-of-use tariffs for electricity usage at peak times are inevitable.

To minimise load shedding, Namibians will have to save 20 per cent of their electricity usage, whether they are private households, municipalities or large customers like mining companies, NamPower announced yesterday. On Sunday South Africa's power utility Eskom announced it had halted power exports to Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe because local demand had grown so much that it had to supply its own country first. "NamPower appeals to its customers and the public at large to reduce their electricity usage by about 20 per cent to minimise load shedding," NamPower's Managing Director Paulinus Shilamba told a press briefing in Windhoek yesterday. "With this assistance from our big customers and the implementation of demand-side management (DSM), NamPower will ensure that power interruptions are kept to a minimum." Municipalities, the mining industry and the water utility NamWater will be informed a week in advance if DSM, voluntary load shedding and load shifting will take place. "We will repeat the warning three days before the date and again 24 hours before," said NamPower's Chief Operating Officer Bertholdt ua Mbuere. This means that NamWater will have to switch off some pumps and mining companies will have to reschedule their peak activities, which consume a lot of electricity, to other times of the day. "Forced load shedding is when Eskom might have a huge power failure or lightning hits a substation," ua Mbuere explained. Shilamba assured the public that it was doing all in its power to keep outages to a minimum. The 120-megawatt coal-fired Van Eck power station in Windhoek is running again, although it costs roughly N$1 million a day to operate it at full capacity. The Ruacana hydropower station on the Kunene River can deliver 240 MW if the river flowing strongly in the rainy season. The upstream weir on the Angolan side, which should control the storage dam level to feed the Ruacana station continuously, was damaged nearly 20 years ago by Cuban warplanes during the liberation struggle and it has not been repaired since then. Namibia has an installed generating capacity of 384 MW and imports roughly 40 per cent of its electricity from South Africa. Asked whether NamPower could accommodate new mines, ua Mbuere said presently only one new mine, Uramin, would receive electricity soon. "Any other mining company can only be accommodated around 2009-10." Yesterday the NamPower management encouraged the public to use electricity wisely - switch off swimming-pool pumps, change to gas stoves and solar water heaters. NamPower could not say if the distribution of some 500 000 energy-saving light bulbs to the public last year was having a positive effect. In South Africa, a multi-billion-dollar aluminium smelter project at the new Coega harbour by Alcan has been put on hold until 2013 because of the Eskom power crisis. Eskom had already signed a 25-year power-supply agreement for the smelter at the end of 2006 and now faces the payment of penalties to Alcan for not being able to honour that agreement. Eskom Finance Director Bongani Nqwababa said of the 25-year agreement: "There must be penalties but I am sure they are cheaper than building a power station." Last month South African President Thabo Mbeki admitted that his government should have heeded pleas by Eskom several years ago to invest more in electricity generation to keep up with the country's economic growth. "When Eskom said to the government: 'We think we must invest more in terms of electricity generation', we said no, but all you will be doing is just to build excess capacity," he said in a speech. "We said not now, later. We were wrong. Eskom was right. We were wrong." President Hifikepunye Pohamba, who opened the first Cabinet session of the year yesterday, also encouraged Namibians save power and turn to renewable energies. "The provision and availability of electricity is critical for all economic activities. It is for this reason that this sector continues to enjoy the priority attention of our Government. "Namibians are particularly encouraged to make use of solar power technology to provide sustainable power for homes, schools and businesses," the Head of State urged. "We must be mindful that electricity has become a scarce commodity. It must be used sparingly," he added. Source