Making A Better World - Milton Louw

(Taken from: http://blkrootsworker.blogspot.com/2012/03/seven-steps.html ) The SEVEN STEPS of District Six as a symbolic tool for understanding Cape identity To anyone who has had an association with old District Six, the very mention of the ‘Seven Steps’ immortalised in Taliep Petersen’s musical ‘District Six’, stirs up deep emotions. The Seven Steps of stone worn by the thousands who climbed these to work, to home, to school, to play, to bok, to church, to mosque, to shop, to celebrate and to mourn, were part of the great big soul of the district. Today, so many years after its destruction, the Seven Steps stands out as the premier symbol of District Six. The District Six museum has it as an integral part of its brand and logo. There is a reverence at its mention – seven after all is God’s number. Seven is the dobbelaars ‘Lucky Number’. The Seven Steps of stone worn by the thousands who climbed these to work, to home, to school, to play, to ‘bok’, to church, to mosque, to ...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 17 December 2014) The past two weeks have been extremely hectic at the Shaanika-Louw household. First it was counting the elections results that kept me from home, now baby has decided we must get ready for our new addition. We arrived at the maternity ward quite prepared as we both have children from previous relationships. However, baby has had other ideas. Since morning Monday, till now just after lunch on Tuesday, baby has decided to take a break. It seems it will take longer to have our baby than counting the elections results. As part of my baby preparedness, I took my wife to the new mall that recently opened in the south east of Windhoek. It was a pleasant surprise to see so many brand name stores and one look at the prices of these items made me appreciate the value of competition. In one of the toy stores I was able to buy a present for our elder son of 11 for less than N$ 200.00. The exact same toy is available from local toys sto...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 19 November 2014) The past two weeks I have been facing a personal crisis at home. The water connection was cut off on 6 November and still has not been reconnected. At first, I felt like a politician slumming it out and showing I can manage for a day without clean, running water but was very soon brought back to reality. Without water you cannot flush your toilets, drink from a tap, shower or wash your hands. Everything is returned to a basic water access through a bucket or a drum. This made me think of the quote by Marcus Samuelsson, “ Clean water and access to food are some of the simplest things that we can take for granted each and every day. In places like Africa, these can be some of the hardest resources to attain if you live in a rural area .” I was upset with my water being off and contacted the City of Windhoek to give them a piece of my mind. They in turn pointed out that I have a rental contract with the price of water included...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 12 November 2014) In everyone’s life there comes a time when you need “someone in your corner”. Being married has reminded me of how important it is to have support structures in place through friends and family – especially when you and the better half have different views or opinions on an issue. For me, after only a few months of marriage, it has been difficult lately because my work is very demanding on my time, as well as being a job in which I get to travel very frequently. This means that I have to make that extra effort to convince my wife that she is still the most important person in my life. Last week I was fortunate enough to be a panellist at the Namibia Customer Service Awards and Conference hosted at the Polytechnic of Namibia. The topic for which I was invited to do a short presentation was “Customer Advocacy”. This term is used to refer to companies that focus on what is best for a customer. This might sound like just anot...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 29 October 2014) There is a Latin saying, Carpe Diem, that means Seize the Day. It can also be translated that you should enjoy the moment. Having been a bachelor for more than a decade, I had never really taken this advice to literally in terms of material possessions. Now that I am married and planning for a family (again), I have had to re-evaluate my future plans and need to start seizing the day. This is important especially in light of me wanting to have a house with a big yard in anticipation of my soon to be born child. Having been married before, and owning at least three properties during those ten years, I eagerly started the process of looking for a suitable house that I would also be able to afford. And then reality struck. I live in the City of Windhoek which as the second highest increase in house prices in the world. Yes, that’s the second highest INCREASE in property prices in the World. At first it did not strike me that h...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 22 October 2014) As a married man, I had my first difference with my wife last week. The argument was over a rather petty issue (taking out the rubbish – is it a man’s job?). This however started me thinking about rubbish and the ways in which we dispose of it. I look around Windhoek and I am always glad to state that I live in the cleanest city in Africa if not the world. However, there are small signs that as humans we are such a consumer throwaway society that we will find ourselves with so much waste we will not be able to dispose of it in the traditional way which is to bury it. I think the efforts being made by the City of Windhoek, together with various service providers, to get residents to separate the various types of rubbish so they can be recycled should be lauded. As consumers, I believe we must throw our weight behind such efforts and encourage all our fellow housemates, neighbours and work colleagues to become involved in the “r...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 15 October 2014) I have been married (for the second time) now for 2 and a half months and still really enjoy having a better half. It is quite pleasing to note that some of our leaders in the musical and political fields are also following this route and legalising their union. Since being married I have had the pleasure of having four of my five daughters come over and visit with my wife and I. Obviously, the change in my marital status means the children now come over and we spend quality time. The discussions are now more gender friendly as I now have the better half participating too. This led me to an interesting observation regarding advertising and the sexist attitude of many advertisers who portray woman as subordinate to men. That’s right: women are still being sexualised to sell products. At this point in the history of Namibia we have come a long way in woman’s rights issues – just look at the zebra style nomination lists – but...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 8 October 2014) This week I was a delegate at the Namibia National ICT Summit hosted by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies in the capital. On the first day of registration I looked through the programme and noticed a prize-giving that was to take place in the afternoon after the close of all the activities. It also stated that you participate by completing the consumer survey form and handing it at the Telecom stand. Two of my colleagues and I were at such events previously and have always seen someone else walk away with the prizes. Nevertheless, we filled in the survey form and handed it in at the stand. We had left it a bit late and were not expecting much. Imagine our surprise when then they called my first colleague, then the second colleague to come fetch their prizes. Even more astounding was when they read my own name out as a prize winner. What is the probability of three colleagues handing in their forms and...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 1 October 2014) I am a very recently married man and am still living the honeymoon. However, the other day I had to stop and think about something that I have only noticed since I got married. I remember when I was growing up, my grandmother had a fridge that seemed to be there from the time I was in primary school till I left for university. That fridge played a part of my life (and those of my siblings and cousins) for at least fifteen years. Recently I was buying furniture for our home and noticed that the life span of the appliances seemed very short compared to what I remember. This complaint is quite common especially about fridges, washing machines and even the smaller appliances like kettles and toasters. Thus, my grandmother’s fridge which was bought more than 30 years ago is still in working condition, while the average life of modern fridges is not more than 5 years. Many times consumers blame manufacturers because they believe th...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 24 September 2014) The past few weeks I have been reminded about an old English proverb/nursery rhyme that goes: “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride; If turnips were watches, I'd wear one by my side; If, If's and And's were pots and pans, there would be no need for tinkers.” My grandfather often told me this while growing up and he meant for me to understand that it is useless to wish on something as better results will only be achieved through actions. Of course, I always had a dream in my head and believed that one day my wish would turn into horse (and I also thought the rhyme said thinkers rather than tinkers). The past few weeks one of my wishes did become a horse: A small lump sum of money came to my wife and she was able to invite me on a shopping spree. We started by purchasing all the main furniture such as fridge, microwave, deep freezer, bed and matrass, as well as completely new pots, pans, cutlery and the Russ...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 16 September 2014)   This week I was really struggling to get a topic to write about for Consumer Court. It felt to me that everything I have written till thus far about consumer issues was falling on deaf ears. That was until I was stopped on the street by a person I have never met before. The man was driving past me and waved to me, then pulled over, reversed and rolled down his window to talk with me. The first thing he said was, “Thank you for the great job you are doing”. I immediately thought he was referring to the organisation where I work as I was wearing a corporate branded golf shirt. “No”, he continued, “I mean the work you are doing with your weekly consumer column in the newspaper.” It turns out he has been an avid follower of my articles since I started writing in 2011 and had even used some of the advice to his own monetary advantage. My day was made. I once again felt that through this opportunity of the consumer court c...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 10 September 2014) A few months ago, my wife and I were discussing our wedding and how we saw married life. My fiancé surprised me by asking that I please install a landline at our house after we get married. The first though on my mind was, of course, with the bad service we are receiving from our mobile telephone companies I cannot blame her. I was rather surprised by this request and even more by her answer: I just want to answer the landline by saying, “This is Mrs Shaanika-Louw speaking”. The ability to communicate is today no longer a privilege but a right. Each and every one has the ability to get a telephone without waiting weeks, or even months (and yes, sometimes years in the rural areas) for our local telephone service provider to install the lines and the hardware to allow us to communicate with the outside world. In Namibia, the ability to connect our population was not developed by a private company as in most western countri...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 27 August 2014) I have been working for a government institution for the past year. This has been the first time in my career spanning over twenty years that I have been a ‘public servant’. Over the years I have heard (and even contributed to the conversation) stories about the laziness of the government service and the un-helpfulness of public servants. Now that I am working in one of these institutions I have realised that these stories are more urban legends than actual fact. Many public servants, from the street cleaners in Windhoek to the election officials in the remotest parts of our country, are doing their best to deliver the service that is expected from a government. Looking at consumer issues, means we should also look at the largest service organisation in Namibia, namely the Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN). The GRN launched the first Public Service Charter was launched in 1997 and then expanded to its present ten ...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 20 August 2014) The past week I have been fortunate to travel through some parts of Namibia as part of my job. We started in Otjiwarongo where training was taking place and I was really impressed by the level of service that was provided at hotels, lodges, restaurants and even the large retail chains. (Have you ever seen the cleanliness of Shoprite in Otjiwarongo? You must then wonder why this level of service and cleanliness does not exist in the Windhoek branch.) On Sunday I decided to travel to Swakopmund via Omaruru and Karibib. Upon entering Omaruru, I was impressed with the main street where every house and business seemed to have a fresh coat of paint. The business community of the town must be recommended for their strategic vision of making the town an oasis of artists, which has obviously increased the tourism numbers of the town. While traveling on the roads I had to commend the Roads Authority in their efforts to upgrade and mai...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 13 August 2014) Dear Consumer Court, I was very upset today when I received an SMS message informing me that I had a debt with the City of Windhoek and that I should please make a plan to pay. They gave a reference number as well as a bank account number and requested I pay at least a minimum of N$ 100.00 as part of a payment plan. I do not know of any outstanding account with CoW so contacted the number given on the SMS. The debt collection company informed me that they have been given all the debtors of CoW and they have me with an outstanding account for ambulance services. Unfortunately they did not seem to have the date of the account but were very insistent that I should start paying at least a small amount to get the debt settled. After going through my own records, I found that I had gone to hospital over 8 years ago and this could be the only time that I could have used an ambulance of CoW. My question is, “Can the debt collecti...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 6 August 2014) Last week I was invited to address the Consumer Complaints Management Symposium held in Windhoek. The theme of the symposium was “Bridging the Gap between Industry Relations and Consumer Care” and the participants came from various industries including financial services, tourism, health care and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). What amazed me the most that was that all the participants were the designated “consumer champion” and were there to find better ways to engage with their clients as well as getting their organisations to embrace client feedback as an integral part of doing business. This was shocking to say the least. How many times do we not hear that Namibia does not have a culture of service? I myself have in fact gone on record a few times in this regard through my various writings. Yet here were representatives from these various industries requesting me to assist them in dealing with consumer complaints in ...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 30 July 2014) Foodcorp (Pty) Ltd is the South African holding company for a group of businesses engaged primarily in the production, marketing and distribution of food. There are seven production units which fall within the Foodcorp (Pty) Ltd group, these are: Grocery, Milling, Baking, Pie, Fishing, Beverage and Speciality division. Foodcorp also supplies retailers in Namibia with brand name products such as Nola condiments, Ouma Rusks and Yum Yum peanut butter. One of its subsidiaries, Foodcorp Pet Foods has recalled several batches of its dog food, following reports of it making people's pets ill. According to the company's Facebook page, ( https://www.facebook.com/FoodcorpPetFoods ) the brands affects are Bobtail, Dogmor and Bonzo dry dog foods with a manufacturing date from 4 June 2014 to 23 June 2014. It must be noted that Pick ‘n Pay’s No Name Brand dry dog food, as well as Shopright's Housebrand and Ritebrand are aff...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 23 July 2014) Last week, Consumer Court received a complaint from a customer regarding a fridge she had purchased from a furniture store but it had started giving problems within a month of purchase. She found herself in a situation where the retailer disclaimed any responsibility on a product sold as “the manufacturer is responsible for defects in materials or workmanship”. The consumer (rightly) complained that she paid the retailer and not the manufacturer, but did not receive the help she hoped. A follow-up was made with the furniture retailer as well as the manufacturer’s representative, but no reply was received by the time of this column. This week, I would like to explain what a warranty is, and when is a consumer able to find redress. According to the dictionary, “a warranty is a guarantee given to the purchaser by a company stating that a product is reliable and free from known defects and that the seller will, without charge, re...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper - 15 July 2014) The following complaint was brought to the attention of Consumer Court last week: “Woermann & Brock does it again! Shelf price N$ 22,49; at the till they charge N$ 23,99. It happens all the time and over and over again. No apologies, nothing, just sheer ignorance! I am convinced that this a deliberate rip off, as this happens regularly. When will the consumers stand up to this?” The customer also included a photograph of the till slip next to the unit price displayed on the shelf to show that the two differed. Consumer Court contacted the General Manager, Mr Rudolph Fourie, and requested feedback from him regarding the consumer’s complaint. He returned our mail and indicated they would attend to the complaint and thanked us for bringing this to his attention. On Saturday, I was at my local grocery store (which happens to be Woermann Brock Hyper in Khomasdal), and noticed there was a hive of activity on the floor. Upon cl...

(First Published in New Era Newspaper -9 July 2014) Recently I visited one of the stores that sells a range of beauty and personal hygiene products in the western part of Windhoek. My fiancé, who is presently pregnant, wanted to purchase something for her flu and had me tag along. Once inside the shop (which I have never actually visited before), I noticed they stocked a large variety of products including pots, pans, and other white goods. In our case, we moved to the section dealing with vitamins and cough mixtures to see what was available. I requested one of the shop assistants to help us but it was painfully clear the person had no real training on the products that were offered. After some discussion, my fiancé and I felt it would be better to visit a nearby pharmacy. The same products were available at the pharmacy and we requested the pharmacy assistant to give us some guidance. After ascertaining that we were “expecting”, she quickly pointed out that it is not healthy to t...