Namcol officials held hostage
OTIS FINCK
More than 50 people who wanted to enrol with Namcol for grade 10 subjects briefly held three registration officials hostage in Kuisebmond on Tuesday.
Fistfights nearly erupted between those who queued and others who tried to jump the queue.
The angry group eventually prevented the Namcol officials from leaving a classroom where they were enrolling students at Kuisebmond Secondary School and accused them of giving preference to certain people at the expense of others.
“I arrived here on Monday and joined the queue at 06:00 to register. They only allocated numbers to 50 persons. I observed how persons who arrived after me were selected and enrolled.
“The registration process is flawed and we won’t let them out of the classroom until they provide us with satisfactory answers,” said an angry student.
Security officers eventually arrived and defused the situation.
The head of Namcol in the Erongo Region, Clifford Block, said he was aware of what was happening and confirmed that he had received reports of people who became impatient and stormed the registration points when the registration process started on Tuesday.
“There are rules and regulations in place to guide the registration process. How can we help people when they refuse to form a queue and become rowdy? They do not want to wait and rather opt to cause problems.
“That’s why we have security officers stationed at registration points. Officials issue tickets to the first 50 persons in the queue every day due to the fact that there are so many people who want to register. It’s impossible to help everybody in one day,” he said.
Block denied allegations of favouritism levelled against his officials and said security officers were posted at the four registration points at Kuisebmond Secondary, Tutaleni Primary, Duinesig and De Duine to maintain order.
He accused some of those who wanted to enrol of being disrespectful towards his officials and the security officers.
Block further said that Namcol did not want to send people away and therefore issued those who queued with tickets numbered from 1 to 50 every day from 14:00.
“I am constantly in contact with my enrolment officers. I know some people arrive early to enrol and they should receive preference. People are actually supposed to start queuing to enrol at 14:00. They disrupt the school when they arrive early and the headmasters complained to me about this. I will see to it that we post more security guards to maintain order,” he said.
More than 50 people who wanted to enrol with Namcol for grade 10 subjects briefly held three registration officials hostage in Kuisebmond on Tuesday.
Fistfights nearly erupted between those who queued and others who tried to jump the queue.
The angry group eventually prevented the Namcol officials from leaving a classroom where they were enrolling students at Kuisebmond Secondary School and accused them of giving preference to certain people at the expense of others.
“I arrived here on Monday and joined the queue at 06:00 to register. They only allocated numbers to 50 persons. I observed how persons who arrived after me were selected and enrolled.
“The registration process is flawed and we won’t let them out of the classroom until they provide us with satisfactory answers,” said an angry student.
Security officers eventually arrived and defused the situation.
The head of Namcol in the Erongo Region, Clifford Block, said he was aware of what was happening and confirmed that he had received reports of people who became impatient and stormed the registration points when the registration process started on Tuesday.
“There are rules and regulations in place to guide the registration process. How can we help people when they refuse to form a queue and become rowdy? They do not want to wait and rather opt to cause problems.
“That’s why we have security officers stationed at registration points. Officials issue tickets to the first 50 persons in the queue every day due to the fact that there are so many people who want to register. It’s impossible to help everybody in one day,” he said.
Block denied allegations of favouritism levelled against his officials and said security officers were posted at the four registration points at Kuisebmond Secondary, Tutaleni Primary, Duinesig and De Duine to maintain order.
He accused some of those who wanted to enrol of being disrespectful towards his officials and the security officers.
Block further said that Namcol did not want to send people away and therefore issued those who queued with tickets numbered from 1 to 50 every day from 14:00.
“I am constantly in contact with my enrolment officers. I know some people arrive early to enrol and they should receive preference. People are actually supposed to start queuing to enrol at 14:00. They disrupt the school when they arrive early and the headmasters complained to me about this. I will see to it that we post more security guards to maintain order,” he said.
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