#BetterDigitalWorld for Namibia - Consumer Day 15 March 2018

Introduction

The number of Internet users by the end of 2017 had reached 4,1 billion users. This means that for the first time, the number of internet users have exceeded the 50% mark of all the people in the world which was estimated at 7,5 billion in August 2017.

The total number of users per region is shown in the following graph

The breakdown of the numbers further shows that though the total number of users in Africa is 10.9%, there is only a penetration rate of 35.2% for the continent.

The number of users in Namibia was 797,002 by 30 June 2017 which translates into 31.0% penetration of usage among the population. Though this number seems high, we are still lagging behind the average penetration of users in Africa (35.2%). It is also interesting to note that around 65.2% of Internet users are also users of social media, most notably Facebook.

Affordability is an issue for usage

In 2011, the United Nations (UN) in a report on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expressions, underlined the applicability of international human rights norms and standards on the right to freedom of opinion and expression to the Internet as a communication medium. In other words, the UN declared internet access to be a basic human right on par with clean water, shelter, food and electricity.

Getting online is expensive. For this reason, the Alliance for Affordable Internet is advocating for an affordability target of “1 for 2”— 1GB of data for no more than 2% of income. The cost of 1GB of mobile broadband in Namibia is more than 3.49% of the average monthly income Figures 2016). In Zimbabwe it is nearly 45% of the monthly average income.

Below is a comparative table for countries in SADC where data is available:

Following international studies on working to affordable Internet for all, the Namibia Consumer Protection Group (NCPG), proposes that we:

• ·         Employ Public Access Solutions to Close the Digital Divide
• ·         Foster Market Competition Through Smart Policy
• ·         Implement Innovative Uses of Spectrum through Transparent Policy
• ·         Take Urgent Action to Promote Infrastructure and Resource Sharing
• ·         Make Effective Use of Universal Service and Access Funds
• ·         Ensure Effective Broadband Planning Turns Into Effective Implementation

We dedicate our time and resources to working with the lawmakers, regulatory organisations and non-government organisations to make these a reality in this, the year of reckoning.

Organisations involved in Digital Matters in Namibia

Namibia Consumer Protection Group

The NCPG is a volunteer-based organisation that primarily uses media (print, radio, television and social) to dissemenate information on consumer issues. The primary tool for this community is the Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/groups/namibiaconsumer/. There are 1,492 members as at 15 March 2018.

Internet Society

The Internet Society (ISOC) is an American non-profit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet-related standards, education, access, and policy. Its mission is "to promote the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world".

In Namibia, there are 153 ISOC members resident in the country of which 100 are registered to the local ISOC Namibia Chapter.

Internet Governance Forum

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a multi-stakeholder forum for policy dialogue on issues of Internet governance. It brings together all stakeholders in the Internet governance debate, whether they represent governments, the private sector or civil society, including the technical and academic community, on an equal basis and through an open and inclusive process. It has been hosted by the United Nations since 2006.

A number of regional, national, and youth initiatives hold separate meetings throughout the year and an inter-regional dialogue session at the annual IGF meeting. Namibia held its IGF launch in October 2017.

The main objectives of the Namibia IGF (NamIGF) are to:

• Raise awareness, promote improved understanding and build capacity on internet governance issues amongst Namibian stakeholders and their respective communities.
• Organise and host an annual multistakeholder and democratic platform for engagement and knowledge building on internet governance-related issues in Namibia, and beyond.
• Influence the development and implementation of national policies related to the internet, and broadly, information and communication technology (ICT).
• Facilitate multistakeholder participation by Namibian representatives at continental and global internet governance platforms.
• Contribute to the strengthening of multistakeholder engagement on internet governance in the SADC and African Union (AU).

Why is the consumer protection law taking so long to implement in Namibia?

Six years ago, I wrote the following:

The Namibia Competition Commission (NaCC) held a consumer awareness week in the capital from 24 to 27 September 2012. The week centred around two issues, namely the competitiveness of Namibia and the need for a consumer protection law. The participants included ministries, government institutions, non-government organisations, the media and members of the public. In the one-day workshop entitled consumer protection, an absolute necessity in Namibia, various aspects of a consumer protection law for Namibia were discussed. The conclusion of the workshop was that everyone agreed a law is necessary and everyone agrees with what should be included.

So what has been the delay in tabling a bill to Parliament?

The Ministry of Trade Industry's Consumer Protection Division had to decide where Consumer Protection should be housed. In other words, should it stay in the Ministry, be a new Commission or be a division of the NaCC. THAT's Right! The only decision that needs to be made is by whom the law should be regulated. The Namibia Consumer Protection Group (NCPG) made it clear that this is not sufficient reason to delay the law and fully supports the proposal that the competition law should be a division of the Namibia Competition Commission (NaCC).

CRAN Protects Consumers from Being Charged High Collection Fees for Outstanding Debts (by MTC)

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia must be applauded for the decision on a consumer complaint about the 18% collection commission that Mobile Telecommunications Limited (“MTC”) charges on outstanding debts. (The complaint was received in 2013.)

The following is taken directly from the Media Statement published on 16 February 2018:
MTC’s Subscriber Agreement states that if the subscriber breaches the contract, MTC shall be entitled to recover all legal and other costs which shall include 18% collection commission that may be legally recovered from the subscriber by MTC.
The Authority concluded and resolved as follows:

1. MTC may not charge consumers a collection commission of 18% on any debts emanating from service level agreements for the provision of telecommunication services;
2. All debts arising from subscriber agreements between consumers and MTC are to be charged a collection commission of 10% only in line with the Magistrate’s Court Rule; and
3. The Magistrate Court Rules are aimed at ensuring that tariffs that have a bearing on collection of debts are reasonable, fair and equitable. The charges by the debt collectors are not exempt from the Magistrate Court Rules.

Aggrieved and affected consumers are encouraged to manage their cases directly with MTC. If such consumers feel their cases have not been addressed within 14 days from the date in which it was formally reported to MTC, then they should follow CRAN’s consumer complaint procedures.

This means that all consumers who have been charged the amount of 18% on outstanding debts can now insist on being refunded these fees.

We applaud the decision by CRAN and hope that MTC will put in place a method that will return these unfairly charged fees – and the interest they (MTC) might have received on these monies.

Press Statement from CRAN can be accessed here

Milton's Newsletter - 9 March 2018

Hi Readers,

Quote of the week

"Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt." - Herbert Hoover

Topics this week:

1. World Consumer Rights Day - 15 March 2018
2. Appointment of Consumer Representative to NSI
3. Consumer Protection Act
4. Housing & Estate Agents
5. Number Portability - change your provider not your number
6. CRAN Protects Consumers from Being Charged High Collection Fees for Outstanding Debts (by MTC)
7. Message from NCPG Director

The global consumer movement will once again unite for a day of action on 15 March 2018. The international theme for World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is ‘Making digital marketplaces fairer’. Building on the success of the 2017 #BetterDigitalWorld campaign, the 2018 campaign will aim to promote digital marketplaces that are more accessible, safer and fairer for consumers across the globe.

E-commerce, or buying products and services online, has transformed the way we consume. Consumers with a connected device and a payment method can buy anything from music to take-away; book transport and accommodation; or buy tickets to events. This new way to trade has opened up a vast array of choice for consumers and enhanced convenience on a scale never seen before.
However, along with benefits, e-commerce raises key issues for consumers such as: access to fair and secure markets, being sure there is redress when things go wrong, and being exposed to scams and fraud. Because of this, the consumer movement must work to ensure that digital marketplaces are fairer for everyone.

Consumer Activism in Namibia

The Namibia Consumer Protection Group was founded in 2009 to unify and mobilize consumers through the identification of visible and clear targets in the community, and propose specific changes for the benefit of the consumers.
This year, in addition to supporting the theme of “Making digital marketplaces fairer”, the NCPG also provides feedback on the success and disappointments in the Namibian consumer environment.

Appointment of Consumer Representative to NSI

The Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and SME Development has appointed the Director of NCPG, Mr Milton Louw to the Namibia Standards Council, the governing council of the Namibia Standards Institute. Through this representation, consumers participate in improving quality, industrial efficiency, productivity and promotion of trade to derive optimum benefits for Namibia and its consumers.

Consumer Protection Act

The delay in the submission of the Consumer Protection Bill to Parliament is very disappointing. The various stages and drafts that have been part of the process have been coming along since before 2010, when H.E. Dr. Hage Geingob (then Minister of Trade & Industry) promised in a speech read on his behalf that the Consumer Protection Act will be submitted to Parliament within one year. The NCPG hopes that in this “year of reckoning”, the newly appointed Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and SME Development, Hon. Tjekero Tweya, will ensure that his staff brings this promise to reality.

Housing and Estate Agents

Within this Ministry, it must be noted with disappointment also at the state of the Namibian Estate Agents Board (NEAB) which is without a Board for a lengthy period of time. They are the official regulating authority and every estate agent must be registered with it. The primary function of the Board is to protect the public interest (consumers) in their dealings with agents while maintaining and promoting the integrity of estate agents. Obviously, without a Board in place, consumers are not getting the protection they deserve under the law.

Number Portability - change your provider not your number

The Communications Regulation Authority of Namibia (CRAN) has once again brought hope that the issue of Number Portability will be addressed within the next 12 months. According to the Communications Act (Act No. 8 of 2009) “number portability” means the ability of users of telecommunications services to retain, at the same location, existing telecommunications numbers without impairment of quality, reliability or convenience when switching from one carrier to another. Further according to Section 81 (3) “The numbering plan must require mobile number portability by all technology and service neutral licensees within two years from the date of commencement of this Act.”

The Media Statement on National Numbering Plan and Number Portability released on 22 February 2018 states: “The implementation of number portability will commence within 12 months from the final publication of the proposed regulations.”

The NCPG hopes that the process, which is 7 years overdue, is eventually implemented and “provides for an array of benefits such as to allow consumers with the right to retain their telephone numbers (fixed and mobile) when changing service providers, support economic growth, encourage participation in the communications sector and most importantly, ensure fair competition” as stated by the CEO, Mr. Festus K. Mbandeka in the statement.

CRAN Protects Consumers from Being Charged High Collection Fees for Outstanding Debts (by MTC)

CRAN must be applauded for the decision on a consumer complaint about the 18% collection commission that Mobile Telecommunications Limited (“MTC”) charges on outstanding debts. (The complaint was received in 2013.)
The following is taken directly from the Media Statement published on 16 February 2018:
MTC’s Subscriber Agreement states that if the subscriber breaches the contract, MTC shall be entitled to recover all legal and other costs which shall include 18% collection commission that may be legally recovered from the subscriber by MTC.
The Authority concluded and resolved as follows:

1. MTC may not charge consumers a collection commission of 18% on any debts emanating from service level agreements for the provision of telecommunication services;
2. All debts arising from subscriber agreements between consumers and MTC are to be charged a collection commission of 10% only in line with the Magistrate’s Court Rule; and
3. The Magistrate Court Rules are aimed at ensuring that tariffs that have a bearing on collection of debts are reasonable, fair and equitable. The charges by the debt collectors are not exempt from the Magistrate Court Rules.

Aggrieved and affected consumers are encouraged to manage their cases directly with MTC. If such consumers feel their cases have not been addressed within 14 days from the date in which it was formally reported to MTC, then they should follow CRAN’s consumer complaint procedures.
This means that all consumers who have been charged the amount of 18% on outstanding debts can now insist on being refunded these fees.

We applaud the decision by CRAN and hope that MTC will put in place a method that will return these unfairly charged fees – and the interest they (MTC) might have received on these monies.

Conclusion
The Namibia Consumer Protection Group (NCPG) has grown to 1,481 members as of 08 March 2018. The group started in 2009 and we have been able to ensure consumers issues are raised and shared amongst the people of Namibia. We will continue to be a Namibian organisation that campaigns for customer rights and focuses on illegal and unethical behaviour by Namibian companies.

To join the Namibia Consumer Protection Group please visit our community page on Facebook.
https:/www.facebook.com/groups/namibiaconsumer/

Yours in consumer rights

Milton LOUW
Volunteer Executive Director

Namibia Government OMA's and their websites

Parliament http://www.parliament.gov.na/
National Assembly https://goo.gl/ynxNtS
National Council https://goo.gl/oeiynU

Offices

Office of the President http://www.op.gov.na/
Office of the Prime Minister http://www.opm.gov.na/
Office of the Judiciary http://www.judiciary.na/

GRN

Ministries

Agriculture, Water and Forestry http://www.mawf.gov.na/
Defence http://www.mod.gov.na/
Education, Arts and Culture http://www.moe.gov.na/
Environment and Tourism http://www.met.gov.na/
Finance http://www.mof.gov.na/
Fisheries and Marine Resources http://www.mfmr.gov.na/
Gender Equality and Child Welfare http://www.mgecw.gov.na/
Health and Social Services http://www.mhss.gov.na/
Home Affairs and Immigration http://www.mha.gov.na/
Higher Education, Training and Innovation http://www.moe.gov.na
Industrialization, Trade and SME Development http://www.mti.gov.na/
International Relations and Cooperation http://www.mirco.gov.na/
Information and Communication Technology http://www.mict.gov.na/
Justice http://www.moj.gov.na/
Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation http://www.mol.gov.na/
Land Reform http://www.mlr.gov.na/
Mines and Energy http://www.mme.gov.na/
Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare
Public Enterprises http://www.mpe.gov.na/
Safety & Security
      Namibian Correctional Service http://www.ncs.gov.na/
      Namibian Police Force http://www.nampol.gov.na/
Sport, Youth and National Service http://www.msyns.gov.na/
Urban and Rural Development http://www.murd.gov.na/
Veterans Affairs & Marginalised Affairs http://www.mova.gov.na/
Works and Transport http://www.mwt.gov.na/

Agencies

Anti-Corruption Commission http://www.accnamibia.org/
Electoral Commission of Namibia http://www.ecn.na/
Namibia Central Intelligence Service
National Planning Commission http://www.npc.gov.na/
Office of the Attorney-General http://www.ag.gov.na/
Office of the Auditor-General http://www.oag.gov.na/
Office of the Ombudsman http://www.ombudsman.org.na/
Public Service Commission of Namibia http://www.psc.gov.na/

NSI to host 5th annual National Quality Awards

The Namibian Standards Institution (NSI) will host the 5th annual National Quality Awards event on November 23 in Windhoek.

The National Quality Awards is the brainchild of the Cabinet-approved National Quality Policy document of June 1, 1999. The event is part of the government’s drive to establish, develop and enhance a strong and fully functional national quality infrastructure regime and encourage a quality culture in the country.

The aim of the quality awards is to recognize and appreciate industries and enterprises, including the service sector and individuals who perform excellently on quality.

It also honours those who contribute to quality advancement in all sectors of the economy, by having measurements and quality systems, procedures and processes that are in line with local, regional and international practices.
The programme furthermore recognizes individuals who use quality advancement to support national economic development and growth.

The NSI’s general manager for standards development and coordination, Jekonia Haufiku, said the awards further aim to enhance the understanding of quality principles, business methods and all national and international standards that promote quality and competitiveness.

“Through these awards we want to encourage industry to use standards to add value to their products so as to competitively market their products and develop their brands at international level. We also want to encourage individuals with drive and expertise in quality related issues to become active role players in strengthening the local quality infrastructure regime.”

He added that apart from honouring enterprises, the event also recognizes individual contributions towards Namibia’s quest of creating a strong national quality infrastructure regime.

The event aims at attracting broad national representation and participation from across all fourteen regions and all sectors of the economy and across all business spectrums and sizes.

The National Quality Awards consists of five categories, namely Company of the Year, Product of the Year, Service of Year, Exporter of the Year as well as the Individual Quality Award.

All businesses, large or small, are eligible to participate in the first four categories provided they are registered with the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development and have good standing with the Receiver of Revenue. The participating enterprises in the first four categories must be applying standards and provide proof of up-to-date certification against at least one standard.

The NSI has appointed independent judges from the quality fraternity to ensure balanced adjudication, and judges are expected to comply with the code of ethics and conduct for judges. The five national category winners will represent Namibia in the annual SADC Quality Awards event in 2018.

Why computer decision making makes us less human

Computers are wonderful tools for taking the boring work and doing it with complaining. However, we must realize that no computer can replace the human trigger of compassion, love or understanding of another human being.

Rachel (not her real name) has a small business selling various indigenous products ranging from ingredients of traditional beer to the homemade beer, cloth for traditional dresses to the complete customer ordered dress, etc. Her monthly income ranges from 15,000 to 20,000 a month. Last month she had an unexpected bonus when a musical group ordered dresses valued at over 200,000. Being a shrewd businesswoman she invested 50,000 in paying her rent for 8 eight months in advance as well as stocking up her food so she will only need to replenish at the end of February next year. After all she has learnt the hard way what happens during Januworry. Her company has continued making its usual income and she feels quite secure in her present position and is even thinking of expanding and adding another staff member. However, quite unexpectedly as Death tends to be, her brother passed away and the funeral arrangements with the obligatory trip to the north for the funeral have depleted all her savings that she needed to cope with till end of the month.

Upon her return from the funeral she decides to visit the bank to get a loan of N$ 1,500 to pay for every day expenses till she gets her payment of N$20,000 for an order that already been delivered. She visits her ban and has all her paperwork in order. She even has a certified copy of the death certificate to show why she needs a loan. The bank turns down her loan application when she approaches the front desk and does not even send her in to see a manager. She requests to see the bank manager but is explained that regardless of whether she sees the manager, the “system” has already turned down her application. It is explained that her account was now in debit of - N$ 123.00 and her clients have not done their payments via electronic funds transfer (EFT). The computer has indicated that she is not trustworthy for a loan and no staff member can overwrite that instruction.

It is important to remember at this point that the banks make their money by loaning their customers money which they must make repayments – with the additional interest charged being the profit they make.

At some point, the top managers of banks, of which very few these days have come through the ranks from being tellers working with customers, decided to use computers to make decisions on whether the historical data should give out loans. According to international norms, “information about your past payment history gives a more accurate prediction of your future actions”.

Let us take this analogy and use it to consider whether a person will smoke in the future. According to the financial industry model, if a person who has smoked in the past, they are most likely to smoke again. They would not consider has the person stopped smoking, but only that they have smoked. It is thus clear that according to the banking (perhaps insurance too) fraternity, you are what you have always been and will probably not change.

Giving the decision making power of whether you may qualify for a loan based on an algorithm that cannot have the compassion of the present situation of the customer must not be allowed to become normal practice.  The most worrying factor is when these algorithms make decisions based on our ethnicity, marital status, or any other arbitrary factors decided by computer programmers away from the reality of life, we will be less for it.

No computer will ever be able to make decisions based on the unexpected happenings life throws our way.

Flipping house owners in Namibia

The “sub-prime mortgage crisis” in America in the period 2007 – 2010 was felt all around the world. Common wisdom tells us this was caused by banks and other financial institutions giving loans to high risk borrowers who could not repay the money. This message has been shared around the world and all of us agree that people with poor credit records should not be given loans as they cause a danger to all of us when they cannot repay. The proverb seems to be “Poor people were reckless and stupid, and banks got greedy.”

This is also the case in Namibia where the poor (read previously disadvantaged), have found it harder to borrow and thus end up renting property rather than getting an approved loan to purchase their property.

But what if this “common wisdom” is wrong?

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (USA) the 2007 crash did not occur because people with low credit borrowed to buy houses they could not afford. Rather it occurred because the wealthy and middle-class were purchasing property and “flipping” them. (The term flipping refers to buying a house or property with the intent to sell it for a profit at later time, normally no more than two years. The most important part of house-flipping is that your rental income will be enough to cover your bond. So in effect the person renting is paying for the purchase price until you sell the profit when you make a profit because house prices are going up.)

If this has been happening in Namibia, especially Windhoek, I contend that with the reduction in inflation and interest rate fluctuations (possible upwards next time round), combined with a reduction in rental incomes, we will soon see defaulting in the home owners’ market.

So if you own a second home and use that rental income to repay some of your loans, BE AWARE the market is experiencing difficulties and it will impact on you when you no longer are getting the expected rental income and its (previously) usual increase of 10%

Tikking in Windhoek

Windhoek has recently had an explosion of drug abuse of crystal methamphetamine which is known on the street as "tik" or "eat-some-more". The drug can be bought in almost any neighbourhood in Windhoek and it is found at any time of the day or night. It is normally sold in the form of a rock at a cost of N$ 100.00 each. This rock is broken into smaller pieces and then smoked from a "gun" which is made from a small metal pipe with a copper filter inside on which the tik is placed and has sellotape wrapped around the stem.

Over the past twelve years I have been living and working with people who use this drug on a regular basis. My first experience of the drug was while staying in Ausspannplatz in what is ironically now part of the National Police Headquarters. The drug was readily available and most of the prostitution happening was for the express purpose of buying tik and alcohol.

What is most striking is that before the first hit the user acts reasonably normal. However, after their first hit they become erratic after about 15 minutes and then the addiction can be seen as they want to have the next hit as soon as possible. It is this craving that is leading to an increase in the number of users being willing to do anything for the next high. These activities include stealing from their own homes, robbing people for cash and phones and offering sexual favours to any person willing to assist in the next high.

Earlier this year I spent a weekend with a tik user and was able to see a little bit more of the underbelly of this activity. (It is perhaps important to add at this point that I have tried tik while out with users but am fortunately one of those people who do not get cravings to eat-some-more and more importantly the cost at N$ 100 a hit is just not value for money for me. My personal drug of choice still remains alcohol and I still hope for the day when we will legalise marijuana for personal usage. LOL)

Over an extended period I have met with users, sellers and recovering addicts. The most common user group in Windhoek are young men and women between the ages of 16 to 30 who are un- or under-employed. The money from the drug is procured through visiting gambling and drinking holes and offering anything the other person might want. The most “successful” user is mostly pretty young women who would in normal circumstances not be found prostituting themselves but once under the spell of tik would literally do anything to get their next hit.

These are the Tik Symptoms (according to the Bethesda Recovery Treatment Centre):

• Loss of appetite, weight loss
• Loss of personal hygiene standards
• Increase in irritability and a short-temper
• Unnecessary aggressive attitudes and behaviours
• Dilated pupils
• Rapid speech
• High anxiety
• Psychotic symptoms (hallucinations, delusions, aggressive itching of specific areas of the body)
• Constant headaches
• An overly friendly manner with a false confidence
• Insomnia
• Changes in dress, friends and slang
• Drug paraphernalia: light bulbs, glass straws, metal tubes
• Regular visits to the doctors due to contraction of sexually transmittable diseases

If you know of any family member, friend or colleague that may be using tik, speak to a professional to seek their assistance in addressing the reasons behind the usage. More often than not, a tik user is easily able to identify the usage as a problem due the high frequency of psychotic episodes.

The biggest loss to us all from the use of these (and other drugs) is the potential that has been taken away that they can never get back.

Staying off social media - a liberating experience

The past few months I have been very quiet on the social media front. Besides my regular twitter shares or an occasional photo of Captain Adorable, I have restricted myself from posting (and checking the "likes") as it was becoming part of my real life and I wanted some space.

The first few days were the hardest - but then I started using the Internet the way I always have - for getting reading material, searching key words or concepts and sending emails.

This process has led me to create a "pocket" (an offline article reader) as well as participate in free online courses.

It has been LIBERATING.

Of course I still peek at what my friends are doing - but it is not an addiction anymore.

Now I need to get back to blogging and writing my next book!

Media abuse and the citizen

The past few weeks (and years) there has been a debate in Namibia about the freedom of the press and more specifically the government's stated intention to regulate the media. The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) has also circulated a broadcasting policy which indicates certain regulations which will be imposed by government.

I wish to dissect this matter for those of us who are not in the media business who would like to have our media free from suppression, BUT, would also like to ensure that the media are held accountable for what they publish. In addition, most citizens are aware that we need to evolve new methods of management of social media posts.

What is Freedom of the Press?

Freedom of the press refers to the right circulating opinion in the media without censorship from the government. What is critical is that freedom of the press allows opinions (normally about leaders) to be circulated for comment among the general public. The Namibian Constitution in Article 21 on Fundamental Freedoms states "All persons shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, which shall include freedom of the press and other media".
THUS, freedom of the press and the right to express an opinion (freedom of speech) is guaranteed in our supreme law.

What happens if Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press is abused?

Abuse of freedom of speech refers to a a false statement that harms the reputation of an individual person, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation. This abuse is referred to as "libel" which is a malicious, false statement in written media, a broadcast, or otherwise published words.

Note: Under common law the word "defamation" is used to indicate a false statement that harms the reputation of an individual person, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation. If defamation takes place in published works it is called libel; and when it is spoken it is called slander.

If you wish to take the process to court when libel occurs you must prove a civil wrong that has caused you to suffer loss or harm for which the person who printed the statement should be held liable.

How do I prove libel?

In general (please consult a lawyer) you must prove that the statement was false, that it has caused harm, and was made without adequate research into the truthfulness of the statement. In the first part of the statement I already had to state that a lawyer had to be consulted. AND that is the crux of the matter why citizens need some regulatory authority with teeth or a small claims court where they can makes such claims without the expense of a legal professional.

Proposals

If we wish to establish mechanisms that will allow citizens an easy way to make the media pay for libel there are three options open to us:
1. The present self-regulating Media Ombudsman be empowered to give binding decisions when libel is found. (Also expand the system to allow for inputs by consumer groups)
2. Include measure in the Consumer Protection Act that will allow compensation if libel is found. This can be addressed through a Small Claims Court.
3. “Regulated Self-regulation” – where government regulators create the conditions in which media can demonstrate they are acting responsibly.

The need to hold the media and journalists for what they write or broadcast is clear. However, the government should not be allowed to use this sentiment to take away any of our hard won rights in our constitution.

Gift Economy - Rethinking GDP and productivity

Reading a very enlightening article about the "gift economy". The most common example is the donating of blood for free. That is not part of the "market economy".

In African terms this also refers to our caring for our relatives by paying for their studies, giving them room and board, etc. We have a more neighbourly approach to our community in which we share or give to others when they do not have.

It does not mean giving when I do not have, but rather haring when I have surplus.

"When a parent cooks for their family that is just as productive as a chef cooking for customers in a restaurant, but no cash changes hands in payment."

 In economic terms, when we give to our friends and neighbours it reduces GDP (Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period)

In today's world we need to rethink the measurement of our nationals wealth by only using GDP.

"We should think of the economy as an interacting mix of market and non-market practices"

See: https://goo.gl/0VYDfP

Community is woven from gifts. Unlike today's market system, whose built-in scarcity compels competition in which more for me is less for you, in a gift economy the opposite holds. Because people in gift culture pass on their surplus rather than accumulating it, your good fortune is my good fortune: more for you is more for me. Wealth circulates, gravitating toward the greatest need. In a gift community, people know that their gifts will eventually come back to them, albeit often in a new form. Such a community might be called a "circle of the gift."

Economic Empowerment in Namibia - discussions on NEEEF

The Law Reform and Development Commission had a consultative meeting in Windhoek on 4th August 2016.

This is my contribution:

I am a previously disadvantaged person (PDP) as proposed under the New Equitable Economic Empowerment Framework in the current from of a draft bill. I qualify as such because I was defined as non-white by the apartheid regime. This was not a name I gave to myself.

Some white business leaders act as if this legislation is not needed because after 26 years there is no more discrimination. I say to you that white owned business had 26 years to address the imbalances themselves, BUT, because they have not done so, Government is forced to make laws to address these economic imbalances created by our apartheid past.

We cannot expect the new law to be voluntary. That has been the case for 26 years and look where that got us. We must make mandatory provisions for, -
a. 25% PDP ownership; and
b. 50% PDP Management

for all business having more than 25 employees and/or making a net profit of more than 1 million dollars.

Keep in mind, previously disadvantaged white male business owners: The system of apartheid gave white privilege and this has continued without any willingness for redress from your side.

The Constitution of this country recognised this in Article 23(2) "Nothing ... shall prevent Parliament from enacting legislation providing directly or indirectly for the advancement of persons within Namibia who have been socially, economically or educationally disadvantaged by past discriminatory laws or practices".

As we all know our constitution, you should remember you knew this for the past 26 years. Why did you not prepare yourselves voluntarily?

I am a PDP and want to participate in our economy together with you. Let us make the more money in our company and that will make both of us richer. I do not want to take away what you gained irregularly, but rather address past imbalances so we can both benefit from the opportunities in our country.

Note: if you company cannot find a buyer for 25% shares, make your employees be that PDP shareholder. You, and them, will make more money through employee profit sharing.

The importance of a reliable database

First posted in New Era - 29 June 2016

Imagine waking up one morning and finding out that a relative left you some money you did not know about? Have you had that dream?

The insurance industry in Namibia is estimated to have over 2 billion dollars’ worth of unclaimed monies due to dependants of deceased persons. No accurate figures have been compiled, but industry experts predict that this relates to over 40,000 people who have money that belongs to them, but they do not know about it. The financial industry refers to these “unfound people” as dependants and make efforts, such as newspaper adverts, to find them. However, the longer the period of time has passed since the fund contributor died, the harder it gets to find a dependant.

Namibia has no home delivery postal service and there exists no national database of residential property and their occupants to enable NamPost to do door-to-door deliveries. This lack of residential information has also led to expensive exercises to register bank accounts correctly, under money laundering legislation, as well as higher interest rates charged to clients due to higher perceived risk by the banks.

These questions have laid heavy on the mind of Milton Shanika-Louw, founder of NamBizDotCom since the early 1990’s. He started his career at the Namibia National Chamber of Commerce and Industry where he was tasked with contacting business owners and getting them to become members of the organisation. In the formal, predominantly white-owned, business community this was fairly easy as most were registered with a local or national public organisation. However, the emerging, black-owned, business was largely unknown. For the next ten years, Louw collected business information by visiting each business in all corners of the country to publish the first business directory in Namibia that included street addresses and a sectoral classification of the business.

At the completion of this tough task, he was invited to Germany to learn more about business reporting for Creditreform in Düsseldorf. During this period, Louw came to realise the importance of a centralised citizens databases and the availability of residency information on the consumers in Germany. This capability allows German citizens to be “found” by government and the private sector as well as allowing personal delivery of information at the person’s place of residence.

Upon his return in 2004, he started the Namibia Persons Directory by collecting information from all public places such as local government, electoral registers, newspaper adverts, land evaluation registers, health certificate registers and professional bodies. This led to the publication of a “white pages” directory that included not only name, surname, postal and physical address, but also date of birth and contact telephone number. This database had 250,000 people registered by 2009.

This database exploded to more than 1,4 million records by 2013 when the first commercial product was made available to businesses and government. Unfortunately, most clients did not have the in-house capacity to handle such a large database, or they were confident they could collect their clients’ information through their own business networks.

In 2015, Louw started up his company again with the primary purpose of assisting consumers who were not aware that there was money due to them by the financial services sector. After an update of the consumer data, the database now has over 2 million records of which 950,000 have completed details including name, surname, date of birth, postal and physical address as well as contact number (90% cellular numbers).

The Namibia Consumer Database 2016 is now being marketed at insurance companies, banks, SME’s and government. The cost of the entire database (954,632 records) is N$ 95,000. Because many clients do not have the data mining capability or knowledge, NamBiz also offers training courses to their clients on how to manage and mine this data set.

NamBiz has always kept in mind that most consumers do not have the time or the money to search for money that may or may not be theirs. The company has thus decided to expand their services to include a probate research section. Probate research deals with finding heirs and proving their right to an inheritance. In some estates there may be no known heirs, or there may be missing heirs whose names are known but their contact information is not. In all these instances, professional probate researchers work to trace the next of kin. This service is being marketed primarily at the financial services industry.

Consumers who wish to have the company do research on their behalf may contact Louw on miltonlouw@gmail.com or send an SMS with their name and surname to +264 81 770 6502. Louw can also be contacted directly on +264 81 688 1368.

Why we need black empowerment in Namibia

Let us be blunt. White male privilege was how things were. In 1780, less than 3% of the population (all male) were allowed to vote. By 1832, only one in seven white males had the right to vote. This was because the law stipulated you had to owned land worth ore than ten pounds. Woman older than 30 only got the vote in
1918.
This same fight for universal suffrage has continued in Namibia (and South Africa) with non-white males and females only getting the vote at Independence.

Now I hear white males complaining that they are now being discriminated against. REALLY?

The fight for equal rights and equal opportunities while the skewed allocation of the past still exists is something we as a nation have to work towards.

Acting the injured party does not help - the fight has been won and you need to join the rest of us working towards equitable sharing of our resources - even if this means government intervention must be used.

Differential Data Pricing and why consumers should block it in Namibia

MTC has introduced Differential Data Pricing without consulting the regulator or consumers.

Recently the telecommunications industry have seen the mushrooming of over the top (OTT) content providers as a threat to their business model. OTT refers to delivery of audio, video, and other media over the Internet without the involvement of a multiple-system operator in the control or distribution of the content - in other words the consumer chooses a data service not provided by the telco service provider.

In South Africa the dominant service providers, (Vodacom and MTN), have instigated a parliamentary debate and are doing their best to introduce hurdles to customers using services such as WhatsApp and Facebook arguing that these services do not pay tax or contribute to the actual infrastructure that customers use.

This debate is however not about services being offered - but rather the threat of losing revenue from voice and SMS.

One of the options being put forward is the use of Differential Data Pricing (DDP) - a process through which telecommunications service providers could or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services offered based on content.

In Namibia, the dominant service provider, MTC, has quietly introduced DDP without consultation with the regulator (Communications Regulator of Namibia) or consumers. The company simply introduced a separation of which data services (and how much of them) can be used within a promotional package and now consumer see a message differentiating how much voice, SMS, WhatsApp and Facebook data they may use.

Consumers must react to this back-door introduction of Differential Data Pricing and insist CRAN as the regulator brings MTC to book.

Why is it important to have an open field of how a consumer uses their data?

1. Users should be guaranteed equal access to any website they want to visit regardless of how they connect to the Internet. 
2. Letting Telcos define the nature of access means they and not the user, shape the users Internet experience.
3. "We can’t  create a two-tier Internet – one for the haves, and one for the have-nots. We must connect everyone to the full potential of the open Web."
4. In India it was found that, "Had differential pricing been officially legalized, it would have adversely affected startups and content-based smaller companies, who most likely could never manage to pay higher prices to partner with service providers to make their service available for free. This would have paved the way for tech-giants like Facebook to capture the entire market."

PUBLIC COMMENTS IN RESPECT OF MTC’S NEW NETMAN PRODUCTS (NETMAN TURBOBOOST) TARIFFS

PUBLIC COMMENTS IN RESPECT OF MTC’S NEW NETMAN PRODUCTS (NETMAN TURBOBOOST) TARIFFS AS PUBLISHED ON 24 DECEMBER 2015 IN THE GOVERNMENT GAZETTE NO. 5908 GENERAL NOTICE 568

Allow me to first state that it is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to be involved in the process of tariff determinations and other matters before CRAN as there are no consumer organization receiving funds to assist them in doing work on behalf of the consumer. Most consumer activists are doing the work on behalf of consumers only when the time allows and thus we will find that big corporations will increasingly get away with unfair business practices. Perhaps CRAN should consider the idea of using funds from the Universal Service Fund to assist consumer organisations with their activities.

The Namibia Consumer Protection Group (NCPG) requests CRAN to have public hearings on MTC’S new NETMAN products (NETMAN Turboboost) tariffs as published on 24 December 2015 in the Government Gazette NO. 5908 General Notice 568.

The proposed tariffs are discriminatory in nature and unfairly penalise the lowest income earners and will make the data usage eight times more expensive than for the data charged to the high-end market user.

COMPARISON OF PRODUCTS

• MTC proposes to charge the lowest cost package at N$ 179 per month for 2 gigabyte of data. That means a cost of N$ 89.50 per gigabyte. 
• The top-end "Unlimited" package costs N$ 999 per month for 90 gigabyte of data. That means a cost of N$ 11.10 per gigabyte.

Data costs are sold at a profit, so assuming the N$ 11.10 per gigabyte is already making a profit, why is MTC making an additional N$ 78.40 per gigabyte off the lowest income earners?

See graph for comparisons of all packages.

The NCPG would like to see this issue being discussed with as many consumers as possible and would request CRAN to allow public debate on the matter.

I thank CRAN for allowing us this extension on comments in this matter.

Kind regards

Milton Louw

Executive Director

NAMIBIA CONSUMER PROTECTION GROUP

Simplifying elective methods will increase voter participation

Namibia held its Regional Council and Local Authority elections on 27th November 2015. Probably the biggest lesson for the country is that so few voters (less than 40%) bothered to participate even after it was declared a public holiday.

In the Regional Council election, each voter is expected to vote for an individual and it is easy for comparisons to be made between the individuals and the parties they represent. HOWEVER, our Local Authority elections are based on the party list system  - and very few voters even know who the candidates are they are voting for when they press the button next to their party of choice.
Looking at the results from the Local Authority election, I am reminded of a quote from Henry George in 1833:

"Much, too, may be done to restrict the abuse of party machinery, and make the ballot the true expression of the will of the voter, by simplifying our elective methods. And a principle should always be kept in mind which we have largely ignored, that the people cannot manage details, nor intelligently choose more than a few officials. To call upon the average citizen to vote at each election for a long string of candidates, as to the majority of whom he can know nothing unless he makes a business of politics, is to relegate choice to nominating conventions and political rings. And to divide power is often to destroy responsibility, and to provoke, not to prevent, usurpation."


(usurpation = taking someone's power or property by force)

Namibia must start looking at a way of simplifying our elective methods. A good way to start is looking at a system of direct voting for representatives at the local authority. In this way the voter has an opportunity to know the individual that wishes to represent their area - and more importantly know where to take their complaints concerning the specific geographic area within the local authority.

Under the new electoral law, the mechanism of referendums can be used to get a "Yes" or "No" from voters on a specific issue. The ECN should use this mechanism to ask: "Should local authority elections be held on a ward system?"



Please note:
Referendums is logically preferable as a plural form meaning ballots on one issue (as a Latin gerund, referendum has no plural). The Latin plural gerundive referenda, meaning things to be referred, necessarily connotes a plurality of issues. 

Back to being a social commentator

For the past three years, I have been working at the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) as the IT Project Coordinator responsible for establishing the electronic voters register. As an employee of ECN, I felt that I should restrict myself from writing about politics or electoral matters as  matter of principle. Thus my regular readers will note that I have largely written only about consumer issues and left out my usual weekly political commentary from my blog.  I resigned from ECN on 30 September and will now continue with this blog (which started in January 2009) as part of my contribution to a better Namibia.

Protecting your family on Social Media

(First appeared in New Era 16 September 2015)

A few years ago my eldest daughter called me during a training session I held in the capital. At the time I was freelancing and training officials at a large OMA about how to use Facebook. When my daughter heard this she had to express incredulity and stated, “But how do you teach something which is so easy to use?” She was of course mistaking using the social media platform with managing the platform and the interaction you can have with the system when understanding how your followers or “likers” react to posts and photographs.
I of course had to protect my business model and had to explain to her the difference. In essence, posting comment, publishing pictures or commenting on posts is all easy to do and allows your friends to see where you are, when and with whom. However, you want to know more about the people seeing your posts entails a lot more work in the actual engine room of the programme. Thus I was training managers of information pages rather than the social usage of Facebook. She still thought it funny that people would pay me N$ 750.00 an hour to learn something she felt they could teach themselves.
Today most of us learn how to use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Youtube and find that we can “instinctively” find the information we need while sharing our innermost thoughts and ideas with ease.
This led me to think about how to protect me and my family from the evils of social media – and more specifically about the careless mistakes we all make when posting about our personal lives.
First things First: Never give out information that you would not want a stranger knowing. Typically you would not tell every stranger walking in your neighbourhood that you will be leaving your house unguarded for the next two weeks while you go on holiday. Even though we would not do this to strangers in real life, many of us are sharing on social media how our holiday is, how long before we go home, etc. without considering that we previously shared pictures of our home, or even our jewellery or precious objects on that same site. Many criminals are becoming aware of information you share and are using it to target you specifically.
Your children: Most of us allow our children to access the Internet through smartphones or home computers without much thought to what content they access. In studies carried out in 25 European countries it was found that around one-third of parents worry about what their children access as content online and this is more than the number of parents concerned about their children’s use of alcohol or drugs.
The following tips are useful when it comes to your Internet usage:
Always keep in mind that the Internet is permanent. Even though you might delete a picture or post does not mean somebody has not already saved a copy. Taking it off does not quite mean the same as deleting it forever.
Be very careful when accepting a new friend request. If someone in real life asked to be your friend out of the blue. Only accept friends you actually know in real life – it is too easy to make a fake profile and pretend to be someone you are not.
Be very cautious when clicking on a link. The most common trick these days is to tell you that a certain friend likes a video or specific page and tries to get you to also look. Remember that anything too good to be true often is.
Get to know your privacy setting an how to change them. Check regularly which information you want to share with whom. Especially if you play games in a social media site, make sure they cannot post to your wall. Your boss will not find it funny that you have just “cracked level 31” after playing Game B for the past two hours.
Lastly, turn off your GPS function on your smartphone. When you post a picture taken with this feature on, anyone can access the data part of the photo and will know your exact location and time at which a photo was taken.
Always use as much caution about the information you and your family share in real life as you do on the Internet.

Debt counselling can assist indebted consumers

(First appeared in New Era 9 September 2015)

One of the biggest problems is starting a family is that most of the things I want such as furniture, motor vehicle, etc. costs more money than what I earn in a month. The only option for purchasing these high cost items is to either save or to take it on credit. For myself, I have learned the hard way that it is better to save and buy later, rather than purchase on credit and not be able to afford the monthly payments later. Unfortunately, most consumers still prefer to buy on credit and can find themselves lending recklessly and then becoming “over-indebted”.
In many countries of the world, a law has been enacted as a National Credit Act that promotes an effective, fair and accessible credit market and to help protect consumers from "reckless lending" and "over-indebtedness". Unfortunately, Namibia has not yet enacted many such consumer laws yet.
Under such a credit environment, debt counselling is included as a tool to help consumers get out from under debt. These debt counsellors must be trained and certified so that they can assist consumers with debt problems, help to design debt repayment plans and negotiate on behalf of the consumer with creditors to enable the consumer to afford their monthly debt payments. (This process is called Debt Review). The idea behind Debt Counselling is to help clients reduce their overall debt with creditors in the most cost effective way.
At present, with no legal framework in place for debt counselling, the consumer only has two remedies when they cannot pay their debt: administration and sequestration. There are however severe disadvantages to both of these and disempower you as a consumer.
If your debt is lower than N$ 50,000 you may apply to have your debt placed in administration. Under administration order a large part of your disposable income can forcibly be taken to repay your debts and comes with an administration charge of up to 12,5% of each instalment you pay. This would mean that for every N$ 100.00 you pay in debt, N$12.50 would go to cover the cost of the administrator.
Under sequestration you lose all your assets as they are sold to cover as much of your debt as possible and you will need permission from a court-appointed trustee if you want to borrow any money.
This disempowering of the consumer needs to be addressed and this is the core reason for introducing debt counselling under a Credit Act. The biggest attraction is that under a credit law is that the process is regulated and is designed to prevent your creditors from harassing you and prevent the loss of crucial assets. In addition, unlike with an administration order, as much as 95% of your monthly payment will go to pay your debts under a debt counselling plan.
There is a cost to debt counselling – after all the service is being provided by a trained and certified professional. In the regulations of the law, the Credit Regulator will be able to determine fees for an application fee, rejection fee – if you are not found to be indebted, the debt counsellor fee as well as after-care fees.
One of the further benefits is that such a law will enforce more rigidly the “in duplum” rule which under common law limits the interest that a creditor may charge on any debt you incur. (This common law rule holds that the creditor may not charge more interest once the unpaid interest equals the outstanding debt. – See previous column in this regard)
I hope the Ministry of Finance will look urgently into the matter of over-indebtedness – which I believe affects more than 15,000 households in the country.

Phishing for airtime

(First appeared in New Era 2 September 2015)

“Phishing is the attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.”

“Hi, I need some airtime urgently. Please send and I will refund you. This is Milton Shaanika-Louw.” A few hours later, the same cellular number sends another similar message but claims to be from someone else. Really, is this scam not easy to see through? After all, surely a famous and rich person would not need telephone credit. Perhaps our free calling now allows people to send this kind of phishing scam at little or no cost?
This week I was very angry that people are still so gullible, but had to stop myself thinking like that because the confidence artists (con man) is making use of the good inside people to steal their money from them. Thus I should not be angry at the good intentions of people, but rather help to educate consumers about the tricks used by these con men. Many people want to make a quick buck and will use dubious or even illegal methods to separate the victim, known as the mark, from their hard-earned money.
This week in Consumer Court, I look at some of the most common confidence tricks and scams out in the world today that can be found here in Namibia as well.
Get-rich-quick schemes: The main theme in this type of scam is that you can make money very quickly, IF you invest a certain amount now. These include fake franchises, sure investments in property, get-rich-quick books, wealth-building seminars, self-help gurus, chain letters, fortune tellers, witch doctors, miracle cures, Nigerian money scams and donations to churches. These often include you participating to make other people give you their money in a pyramid type scheme.
Persuasion tricks: These type of tricks is one of the oldest scams known. There are several variations including Grandparent scam, romance scam and fortune-telling fraud. In the grandparent scam, the target is convinced that someone they know needs money urgently and will pay them back as soon as they can. The phishing airtime scenario mentioned above is this kind of scam. The romance scam involves getting the person to feel loved, or promised sexual favours in exchange for money. In Namibia there has been rumours of people (especially men) being sent an SMS from someone they don’t know and when they enquire the sender claims to be a young women still at school. You can imagine that once money is sent, the victim will surely not tell another person of what their intention was with an underage girl! Fortune-telling scams (or witch doctor scams in the African context) involve informing the victim that they or their money is cursed and needs to be “cured, prayed for, or blessed”. Of course the money that is cursed then gets in to the pocket of the con artists rather than being cured.
Gold brick scams: Many people hope to buy something for cheaper than its normal retail selling price. In the gold brick scam the item being sold looks like gold put turns out to be only gold coated lead. The most common scam of this type in Namibia is the white-van speaker scam. In this scam the buyer is left with a product worth less than they thought (and more than it actually costs) but is scared to inform the police because they have to admit they were doing something illegal.
Extortion tricks: In the extortion trick the victim is already in a comprised position and then they are forced to pay non-existent claims. These tricks include the badger game where married men are targeted and forced into a supposed affair and then threatened with public exposure unless they pay the blackmail money. It can also involve consumers requesting a cash loan which means they must give up a lot of personal information. This information is then used to harass the customer while pretending to be a real debt collector. The “fake collector” often threatens the victim with calls to their workplace, threats about listing at the credit bureau or even arrest. This underlying debt either does not exist, or is not valid due to a statute of limitations (prescribed debt over three years old). Nevertheless, the victim pays out of fear and the con man has once again made his “mark”.

Land of Milk and Honey

(First appeared in New Era 19 August 2015)

During the 1980s I was told that Namibia (and specifically Rehoboth), is the land of milk and honey. I did not know at the time that the name “Rehoboth” had biblical significance. In the Bible, the story is told of Isaac that had dug two wells and the people of the communal area had argued both times on who had rights to use the water. When Isaac dug a third well there were no quarrels and he thus called it Rehoboth and said, "Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land".
The Rehoboth Gebiet had a medium-sized dairy industry and its own supply of milk from the Swartmodder dairy farm that had been set up with funding from the Rehoboth Development Corporation. Both these businesses flourished and was able to supply their immediate local market with enough dairy products at an affordable price. Shortly after Independence, the market forces were such that the largest dairy producer could apply economy of scales and provide milk products to the Rehoboth area at prices well below the production cost of the local producer. Unfortunately, this “price war” and other local factors led to the closing of the dairy farm and eventually the dairy as well.
There was considerable personal interest in this development as the grandfather of my youngest daughter was the founder of the Rehoboth Dairy. I took time to evaluate the impact of low cost imports to the area, high cost of imported inputs, the local labour situation as well as the long-term effects on the local economy after the closure of the local dairy industry.
The findings were clear: a) local jobs were lost; b) the price of the imports shot up immediately after the closure of the dairy; c) the local consumers only benefited for a short time; and d) the cows that were milk producers were slaughtered for meat.
Last week I was invited by the dairy farmers and industry to attend a meeting lamenting the over-supply of milk on the international market and how this has led to low cost imports flooding the Namibian market. This “dumping” has led to a “price war” where foreign producers sending dairy products to Namibia at a much cheaper price that what our local producers can manufacture at.
The meeting ended with a tour of the storage facilities where we found more than seven months of long life milk standing on the shelfs. Obviously, as consumers we welcome the extra few dollars in our pocket when buying cheap alien milk, but must also be cognisant of the fact that a local industry is in dire straits and needs saving.
Bluntly put: A Namibia cow, let us call her Daisy, is spending her life on a Namibian farm, being looked after by Namibian employees and producing milk for our Namibian homes. Daisy has been part of our lives and would quite willingly continue to share her milk with us but it would mean we as Namibian consumers would have to dig deeper in our pockets for the privilege of keeping Daisy alive, keeping Namibian jobs, and, in the long-term, ensuring we have a Namibian industry that can supply us with this staple product.
As the writer for Consumer Court, I pledge to purchase Namibian milk at around the N$ 17.00 price even while price of alien milk is cheaper. In the short term it will cost me more, but from experience we had better put Namibia first or face the same losses of the Rehoboth area when the dairy industry closed there.


(The words “dumping” and “price war” are in inverted commas as they might not meet the criteria as applied under World Trade Organisation rules.)

Put Namibia first

(First appeared in New Era 11 August 2015)

During the past week I attended a consultative workshop by the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and SME Development in Windhoek on the National Policy for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises. I was glad that the Ministry is revisiting the previous policy which is at least 18 years outdated. During the discussions I brought up the issue of whether this policy will clearly stipulate that it is to support Namibian owned businesses. This brought out differing viewpoints, with one side arguing that we cannot discriminate against foreign owned business while the other side argued that a policy should be put in place that specifically assists Namibian entrepreneurs to increase the size and scope of their business.
As consumers we are often requested by (mostly) big businesses to support Namibian products and services through the “Buy Namiban”, Team Namibia and other promotions. This is often at a cost that we as the consumers have to carry as these same businesses promoting these efforts are in fact asking us to do so at the expense of cheaper products from elsewhere. This type of infant industry protection is apparently aimed at creating local jobs and making it more profitable for a foreign investor to set up such a facility within the country.
Thus I must question not whether the Government should develop policies that allow more Namibian ownership, or perhaps even promote our own method of broad based economic empowerment, but rather; what affect would promoting Namibian owned businesses through preferential treatment have on a consumer?
First, we all as consumers would benefit as more Namibian ownership getting more benefits would allow for more jobs to be created. Secondly, it would mean that the profits of these enterprises would remain in Namibia and be available to uplift our own economy. Third, it would put a stop to unfair competition from foreign companies as they are already benefiting from export policies of their own country. We need only to look at what occurred in the construction industry when cut-throat competition was allowed in the construction industry. Economists argue that competition increases a consumer’s choice and lowers prices. Not so. The prices of houses have not gone down and neither has the quality for consumers. If we use this industry as an example, we also see how a local skill base has been reduced to sub-contracting or even closing down as even the lowest level of construction opportunities have been opened up to foreign owned companies.
We have seen xenophobic attacks happening in many African countries as consumers (citizens) become enraged by the number of foreign owned companies being allowed in all sectors without creating more jobs, or lower prices, but only an increase in the profits being syphoned out of their communities.
As a consumer activist and business owner, I cannot ignore that Namibia has one of the most liberal Constitutions that guarantee no discrimination. However, I must also point out that part of the preamble to this constitutions states: ‘whereas we the people of Namibia are determined to adopt a Constitution which expresses for ourselves and our children our resolve to cherish and to protect the gains of our long struggle…” Surely this means that we must ensure that our children remain the owners of our not only our land but also of our economy.
At the present rate we have already sold our birth right on the land issue where there is no control on foreign ownership. Is it not about time we take control of our economy and ensure that we the people also benefit from the profits of ownership?
I encourage you as a consumer to think twice before buying a product that you could source locally. Why buy that fake wallet when you can invest in a better product when you buy from the Namibian leatherworks businesses.