Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab made an impassioned plea to commercial farmers to "change their hearts and minds" to avoid Zimbabwe-style land grabs. Speaking to members of the Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) - which represents commercial farmers' interests - Gurirab said last week's eviction of six families who had lived for several decades on a farm near Gobabis should not be seen in isolation.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international media watchdog, says the environment for media freedom in Namibia has changed for the worse since President Sam Nujoma took over the Information and Broadcasting Ministry portfolio.

Over the past two years, the government has used all the money allocated for land redistribution for resettlement purposes. This occurs after several years of underspending, says a top official at the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation.

Technical teams representing the governments of Angola and Namibia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are meeting in Windhoek, to discuss the repatriation of Angolan refugees to their country.

The Namibian government has apologised for delays in distributing drought aid but says the task is time-consuming and cannot easily be fast-tracked. The distribution of food aid to an estimated 345 000 people in need has been delayed by official bureaucracy and the allocation of tenders to firms that do not have the capacity to deliver.

The Namibian government wants to sell off parts of State-owned enterprises before they drain the treasury even further, but the unions don't want to hear of it.

Commercial farmers say the latest increase in the price of diesel will push up their annual fuel expenditure by more than 6 million Namibian dollars.

Over 400 illegal immigrants, most of them Angolan nationals, appeared before an Immigration Tribunal at Ohangwena in the North last Friday. The tribunal, chaired by Namibian Police Commissioner Sebastian Ndeitunga, granted immigration officials the authority to deport them to their countries of origin.

The Office of the Prime Minister has finally charged a senior government official with corruption after he allegedly tried to influence the award of a multi-million tender of state pensions in favour of his private firm and business associates.

The Emergency Management Unit has to deliver food assistance to over 345 000 drought-affected Namibians despite pledging to start the humanitarian exercise early this week.

On 9 October 2002, the privately-owned national daily newspaper "The Daily News" reported that a group of youths from the National Youth Service programme destroyed 450 copies of the paper in the eastern border town of Mutare.

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) on Thursday, October 9, 2002, circulated a notice calling on Namibian media practitioners to give their input to the formulation of a new Information Policy for Namibia. The workshop is currently in progress in the Blue Room at the Continental Hotel in Independence Avenue, Windhoek.

Almost 500 Namibian refugees, who fled to Botswana during unrest four years ago, are to be repatriated early next week, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last Friday.

Officials at the Social Security Commission (SSC) paid two investment brokers N$5 million to manage funds allocated illegally. Most of the money was eventually shared as kickbacks, a probe into the parastatal reveals.

Amid claims of "dictatorial behaviour", as well as unprecedented heckling, Namibian President Sam Nujoma on Sunday dropped plans to nominate 21 women to the Central Committee of the ruling SWAPO party.

Canada will contribute about US$ 900,000 for vital landmine clearance in Mozambique and to support landmine victims in Namibia. Susan Whelan, Canada's minister for international cooperation, made the announcement in Mozambique during a visit.

About 300 state accountants will be trained under a scheme to prevent fraud and mismanagement launched by the Ministry of Finance and the Finnish Embassy. The training is part of a project to strengthen financial controls in Namibia. It has been sponsored by the Finnish government to the tune of 488 000 euros, about N$5,2 million, between 1998 and 2002.

The Health and Social Services Ministry has 4 000 orphans on its books, most of whom have been left without parents as a result of HIV-AIDS.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has begun repatriating Namibian refugees from Botswana.

Namibia's leading human rights organisation on Wednesday slammed the armies of both Namibia and its neighbour Angola for ongoing extra judicial executions in the north of the country.