Lessons from the terrible year 2020

Toivo Ndjebela
The year 2020 has been a lesson in rituals. We indulged, often against our wish, in a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order.

This meant placing on ice a lot of our reckless behaviours for the sake of ourselves and others. What Covid-19 has proven is that beneath the skin of all of us who act tough lies a bunch of scared beings.

For too long we have defied prescribed orders, such as keeping within the speed limit on the roads and being morally upright in all our daily manifestations.

Despite such prescriptions, we continued to kill each other on the roads, inflicted gender-based violence on our partners, dipped our filthy hands into national coffers for parochial ends and deliberately underperformed our duties to the detriment of the masses.

These are all actions of people who think they are so tough they will not follow the orders of another living being. But with the scary wave of Covid-19, we all immediately realised we are mortal beings who would be swept off the face of earth if we continued being unruly and stupid.

The key lesson of this year is therefore that we lose nothing by being good, obedient citizens. Being model citizens births a better society where everyone is their brother's keeper and a pillar to the general upkeep of each one of us.

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Namibian Sun 2024-05-06

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Premier League: Liverpool 4 vs 2 Tottenham Hotspur | Brighton 1 vs 0 Aston Villa | Chelsea 5 vs 0 West Ham | Manchester City 5 vs 1 Wolves | Brentford 0 vs 0 Fulham | Sheffield United 1 vs 3 Nottingham Forest | Burnley 1 vs 4 Newcastle | Arsenal 3 vs 0 Bournemouth | Luton Town 1 vs 1 Everton LaLiga: Rayo Vallecano 0 vs 1 Almería | Sevilla 3 vs 0 Granada | Valencia 0 vs 1 Deportivo Alaves | Celta Vigo 3 vs 2 Villarreal | Osasuna 0 vs 2 Real Betis | Mallorca 0 vs 1 Atletico Madrid | Girona 4 vs 2 Barcelona | Real Madrid 3 vs 0 Cadiz | Real Sociedad 2 vs 0 Las Palmas | Getafe 0 vs 2 Athletic Club SerieA: Salernitana 1 vs 2 Atalanta | AS Roma 1 vs 1 Juventus | AC Milan 3 vs 3 Genoa | Empoli 0 vs 0 Frosinone | Hellas Verona 2 vs 1 Fiorentina | Cagliari 1 vs 1 Lecce | Sassuolo 1 vs 0 Inter Milan | Monza 2 vs 2 SS Lazio | Torino 0 vs 0 Bologna European Championships Qualifying: Plymouth Argyle 1 vs 0 Hull City | Birmingham City 1 vs 0 Norwich City | Coventry City 1 vs 2 Queens Park Rangers | Stoke City 4 vs 0 Bristol City | Swansea City 0 vs 1 Millwall FC | Leeds United 1 vs 2 Southampton | Ipswich Town 2 vs 0 Huddersfield Town | Sunderland 0 vs 2 Sheffield Wednesday | Rotherham United 5 vs 2 Cardiff City | Middlesbrough 3 vs 1 Watford | Leicester City 0 vs 2 Blackburn Rovers | West Bromwich Albion 3 vs 0 Preston North End English Championship: Plymouth Argyle 1 vs 0 Hull City | Birmingham City 1 vs 0 Norwich City | Coventry City 1 vs 2 Queens Park Rangers | Stoke City 4 vs 0 Bristol City | Swansea City 0 vs 1 Millwall FC | Leeds United 1 vs 2 Southampton | Ipswich Town 2 vs 0 Huddersfield Town | Sunderland 0 vs 2 Sheffield Wednesday | Rotherham United 5 vs 2 Cardiff City | Middlesbrough 3 vs 1 Watford | Leicester City 0 vs 2 Blackburn Rovers | West Bromwich Albion 3 vs 0 Preston North End Katima Mulilo: 18° | 35° Rundu: 16° | 34° Eenhana: 14° | 34° Oshakati: 17° | 33° Ruacana: 16° | 33° Tsumeb: 17° | 32° Otjiwarongo: 14° | 30° Omaruru: 15° | 32° Windhoek: 13° | 28° Gobabis: 16° | 29° Henties Bay: 13° | 19° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 08:09, High tide: 14:30, Low Tide: 20:18, High tide: 02:00 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 20km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 08:07, High tide: 14:28, Low Tide: 20:16, High tide: 02:00 Walvis Bay: 14° | 21° Wind speed: 25km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 08:07, High tide: 14:27, Low Tide: 20:16, High tide: 02:00 Rehoboth: 15° | 29° Mariental: 16° | 31° Keetmanshoop: 17° | 31° Aranos: 18° | 31° Lüderitz: 13° | 22° Ariamsvlei: 17° | 34° Oranjemund: 12° | 20° Luanda: 25° | 29° Gaborone: 15° | 30° Lubumbashi: 16° | 27° Mbabane: 14° | 28° Maseru: 10° | 25° Antananarivo: 10° | 22° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 18° | 30° Windhoek: 13° | 28° Cape Town: 15° | 16° Durban: 18° | 29° Johannesburg: 16° | 25° Dar es Salaam: 22° | 30° Lusaka: 19° | 30° Harare: 14° | 29° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.16 | EUR to NAD 19.88 | CNY to NAD 2.56 | USD to NAD 18.48 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.31 | EGP to NAD 0.38 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.67 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.64 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.22 | USD to DZD 134.19 | USD to AOA 834.06 | USD to BWP 13.62 | USD to EGP 47.91 | USD to KES 133.48 | USD to NGN 1380 | USD to ZAR 18.47 | USD to ZMW 27.07 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 76776.44 Up +0.46% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1698.71 Down -0.09% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 13362.48 Down -0.31% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 26113.71 Up +3.34% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 324.03/OZ UP +0.97% | Copper US$ 4.57/lb UP +0.93% | Zinc US$ 2 924.30/T UP -0.08% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 83.96/BBP UP +0.57% | Platinum US$ 954.59/OZ DOWN -0.0013 Sport results: Premier League: Liverpool 4 vs 2 Tottenham Hotspur | Brighton 1 vs 0 Aston Villa | Chelsea 5 vs 0 West Ham | Manchester City 5 vs 1 Wolves | Brentford 0 vs 0 Fulham | Sheffield United 1 vs 3 Nottingham Forest | Burnley 1 vs 4 Newcastle | Arsenal 3 vs 0 Bournemouth | Luton Town 1 vs 1 Everton LaLiga: Rayo Vallecano 0 vs 1 Almería | Sevilla 3 vs 0 Granada | Valencia 0 vs 1 Deportivo Alaves | Celta Vigo 3 vs 2 Villarreal | Osasuna 0 vs 2 Real Betis | Mallorca 0 vs 1 Atletico Madrid | Girona 4 vs 2 Barcelona | Real Madrid 3 vs 0 Cadiz | Real Sociedad 2 vs 0 Las Palmas | Getafe 0 vs 2 Athletic Club SerieA: Salernitana 1 vs 2 Atalanta | AS Roma 1 vs 1 Juventus | AC Milan 3 vs 3 Genoa | Empoli 0 vs 0 Frosinone | Hellas Verona 2 vs 1 Fiorentina | Cagliari 1 vs 1 Lecce | Sassuolo 1 vs 0 Inter Milan | Monza 2 vs 2 SS Lazio | Torino 0 vs 0 Bologna European Championships Qualifying: Plymouth Argyle 1 vs 0 Hull City | Birmingham City 1 vs 0 Norwich City | Coventry City 1 vs 2 Queens Park Rangers | Stoke City 4 vs 0 Bristol City | Swansea City 0 vs 1 Millwall FC | Leeds United 1 vs 2 Southampton | Ipswich Town 2 vs 0 Huddersfield Town | Sunderland 0 vs 2 Sheffield Wednesday | Rotherham United 5 vs 2 Cardiff City | Middlesbrough 3 vs 1 Watford | Leicester City 0 vs 2 Blackburn Rovers | West Bromwich Albion 3 vs 0 Preston North End English Championship: Plymouth Argyle 1 vs 0 Hull City | Birmingham City 1 vs 0 Norwich City | Coventry City 1 vs 2 Queens Park Rangers | Stoke City 4 vs 0 Bristol City | Swansea City 0 vs 1 Millwall FC | Leeds United 1 vs 2 Southampton | Ipswich Town 2 vs 0 Huddersfield Town | Sunderland 0 vs 2 Sheffield Wednesday | Rotherham United 5 vs 2 Cardiff City | Middlesbrough 3 vs 1 Watford | Leicester City 0 vs 2 Blackburn Rovers | West Bromwich Albion 3 vs 0 Preston North End Weather: Katima Mulilo: 18° | 35° Rundu: 16° | 34° Eenhana: 14° | 34° Oshakati: 17° | 33° Ruacana: 16° | 33° Tsumeb: 17° | 32° Otjiwarongo: 14° | 30° Omaruru: 15° | 32° Windhoek: 13° | 28° Gobabis: 16° | 29° Henties Bay: 13° | 19° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 08:09, High tide: 14:30, Low Tide: 20:18, High tide: 02:00 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 20km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 08:07, High tide: 14:28, Low Tide: 20:16, High tide: 02:00 Walvis Bay: 14° | 21° Wind speed: 25km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 08:07, High tide: 14:27, Low Tide: 20:16, High tide: 02:00 Rehoboth: 15° | 29° Mariental: 16° | 31° Keetmanshoop: 17° | 31° Aranos: 18° | 31° Lüderitz: 13° | 22° Ariamsvlei: 17° | 34° Oranjemund: 12° | 20° Luanda: 25° | 29° Gaborone: 15° | 30° Lubumbashi: 16° | 27° Mbabane: 14° | 28° Maseru: 10° | 25° Antananarivo: 10° | 22° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 18° | 30° Windhoek: 13° | 28° Cape Town: 15° | 16° Durban: 18° | 29° Johannesburg: 16° | 25° Dar es Salaam: 22° | 30° Lusaka: 19° | 30° Harare: 14° | 29° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.16 | EUR to NAD 19.88 | CNY to NAD 2.56 | USD to NAD 18.48 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.31 | EGP to NAD 0.38 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.67 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.64 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.22 | USD to DZD 134.19 | USD to AOA 834.06 | USD to BWP 13.62 | USD to EGP 47.91 | USD to KES 133.48 | USD to NGN 1380 | USD to ZAR 18.47 | USD to ZMW 27.07 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 76776.44 Up +0.46% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1698.71 Down -0.09% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 13362.48 Down -0.31% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 26113.71 Up +3.34% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 324.03/OZ UP +0.97% | Copper US$ 4.57/lb UP +0.93% | Zinc US$ 2 924.30/T UP -0.08% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 83.96/BBP UP +0.57% | Platinum US$ 954.59/OZ DOWN -0.0013