Some good news for Namibian consumers

In these troubling times and comparisons of costs in other countries, it is a little bit of comfort to realise that as Namibian consumers we have had some success. The following is taken from the "Africa Prepaid Mobile Price Index 2012: South Africa" study by Research ICT Africa (http://www.researchictafrica.net/home.php)

"Not long ago, South Africa and Namibia shared the same mobile termination rates and had similar end-user prices. Today, Namibia enjoys amongst the cheapest mobile prepaid prices in Africa, as a result of the slashing of its termination rates close to cost, which pressured the incumbents towards cost-based pricing, thereby increasing demand and remaining highly profitable.

South African prepaid mobile prices are three times more expensive than in  Namibia.

The most dramatic shift in prices was that of Namibia – the result of aggressive price reductions by the dominant operator MTC following systematic interconnection rate reductions towards cost-based termination rates. In June 2011, MTC launched a NAD 0,38 campaign for calls across networks with 100 free SMSs a day, subject to recharging of at least NAD 5.

In Namibia, mobile termination rates were cut from NAD 1,06 to NAD 0,30 (ZAR 0,30) in less than two years."

From the Namibia Consumer Protection Group (NCPG), I must add, a lot of this was thanks to Dr Christoph Stork in cooperation with the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology.

Kind regards

Milton Louw
Executive Director
NCPG

Toekoms Namibië

http://toekomsnamibie.blogspot.com/


Toekoms Namibië is 'n samewerkings projek van Milton Louw en Moira Delie om die boek, "Future Namibia" te verwerk in Afrikaans.

Die boek handel oor die nodigheid van 'n regering en besgheidslui wat die mense van die land eerste stel om te verseker almal bly in 'n land van vrede en oorvloed.

Legalise Prostitution in Namibia

I know some prostitutes personally. There is no shame in knowing that they have sex for money. After all, if one of my friends is looking for a prostitute’s services, I will gladly help him get a lady for the evening, whether it is in the casino or on the street. Yet I am never ashamed of my friend or his behaviour.


Sometimes referred to as the oldest profession in the world, it is also probably the most controversial. The moment I bring up the subject in “decent” conversation it either brings laughter (among the men) or derision (from the ladies). So, I know I am going to get a lot of difficulties for touching this subject:


There are two types of prostitution.
• The first is for the basic need of survival. The money received is used for the food and shelter. This is a problem of poverty.
• The second, is a little bit more complicated. The money has become the central reason. The money is no longer just for the basic needs, but has become a means to fulfil other pleasures such as gambling, drinking, and drugs.


So here goes. I propose we legalise prostitution and have registered places of business with medical schemes and pensions in place for the sex worker industry.




AND BEFORE YOU SHOUT-


For a period of two years I lived in Ausspannplatz close to the police headquarters. This area was previously the place travellers would stop and leave their wagons before entering Windhoek. (“Aus spann” means to let the cattle free to graze.) There is a small park and two traffic circles in the area. This is the downtown of the city.


As in most cities and towns around the world, the downtown has become a night life area filled with bars and casinos. Of course, where there is money and alcohol, there are also prostitutes and drugs.


When my forefathers (the Plaatjies family) came to Windhoek, they had a business in the area – opposite where the Ministry of Transport and Works is today. Not surprisingly, I found some of the people still remember my family in the area.


But it is the night life that was the most interesting. The area starts to come alive with the “night people starting around 16H00. The first “ladies” start appearing as their customers pass by before heading to their respective homes. Alcohol is being bought for the night ahead as it is cheaper from the bottle store than at the bar. The men in the area are either “boyfriends”, (who share the income with their girlfriends), drug peddlers – mostly marijuana, or petty thieves.


I have spent many an interesting evening with the people of the area and have never felt threatened by anyone. However, life and death are ever present. This can be through knife fights, being shot by the robbery victim or police, or while asleep on the railway lines.


During this period I met a young lady who was living in the area and we became more than just friends. I later moved to another part of Windhoek and she moved with me. However, this part of town and the people in the area were too part of her life. We later broke up and she returned to spending her day and nights in Ausspannplatz. Unfortunately, she became sick and as it was untreated it led to pneumonia. She passed away three days after being admitted to the hospital.


Elmarie Motswana was only 24 years old.


Her story began when she was 13 years old. Her mother and stepfather worked as labourers on a commercial farm close to Mariental. She became pregnant and had a baby boy at this age. Barely literate and with no hope, she moved to Windhoek to get another chance at schooling. Within a few months the lights of the city had bedazzled her and she went missing from her family’s house.


She created a new history for herself and over the next ten years she became Elmarie Motswana. She had played soccer at school and had gone with the school team to Brazil. Her mother was a rich lady from Katutura, but she hardly went home because her stepfather did not like her. And so it went on with each passing year and less and less of the true Elmarie stayed behind. Only after her passing, was I able to piece together some of her past.

WHEN I ASK YOU TO LISTEN

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice and you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem you have failed me, strange as that may seem.
Listen! All I asked, was that you listen not talk or do - just hear me.
Advice is cheap; ten cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper, and I can do for myself; I’m not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and weakness.
But, when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational, then I can quit trying to convince you and can get about the business of understanding what’s behind this irrational feeling.
And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious and I don’t need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them.
Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes, for some people because God is mute and he doesn’t give advice or try to fix things.
He “just listens and lets you work it out for yourself.”
So please listen and just hear me. And if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn; And I’ll listen to you.

*Anonymous: “Listen” was found in David Bailey and Sharon Dreyer’s book, Care of the mentally ill (1977)

Implementing ICT policy for the benefit of Africans

In this blog I am addressing the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) in the application for the position of African ICT Policy Advocacy Coordinator.

The issues to be addressed are:

a) why do you think ICT policy is in critical need of attention in Africa;

b) what do you think are the most important areas to intervene in the near future?; and,

c) how do you see the relationship between human rights and the internet?

ICT Policy

First, I wish to address our understanding of ICT and how we can integrate it into our governance systems and also our daily lives. I have struggled to find a term for this and the best I could find was “Progress through Technology”,  or in German, “Vorsprung Durch Technik” . I prefer to use the German expression because in German the word “Technik” not only means technology, but also the technique of studying and mastering the skills of something.

Thus my belief that African countries need to relook at their ICT Policy and include the mastering of ICT tools as part of their focus. These tools include the

1.      social media revolution of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.

2.      Mobile telephony (not only smartphones but also older technologies such as USSD)

3.      touch screen and tablets

in getting information to their constituents.

It is my opinion is that discrimination in the world in 2012 and beyond, is not based only on race, culture, gender, or geographical location, but more importantly in access to services and technology. African leaders must address this through ICT policies that are forward looking, and easily adaptable to changes in technology.

Looking forward

Africa can use the latest technology to the benefit of all its residents. The attitude to education which is presently geared to becoming an industrial country, must be changed to a system where knowing where the information is available is more important than having the information in your head. This means moving from our present agricultural society to a knowledge-base society within the next decade.

This leapfrogging into a knowledge-based society can be assisted by creating an ICT Action Group (IAG) reporting directly to the President or even Parliament. I propose such an IAG should consist of four staff members, of which two should be young people under the age of twenty-five. (The (male and female) staff member should each have software programming skills and should also participate in gaming leagues such as Warcraft. In addition, they should have a minimum competency in the number of words they can SMS per minute on their cellular phone.)

The objectives of the IAG:

•                     Advise the President and Cabinet on ICT.

•                     Ensure ICT capability of all members of the Cabinet and their staff.

•                     Create a Government Ministerial scorecard on Information and Communication Technologies. This includes a baseline survey of computer equipment and civil servant skills, as well as monitoring the information availability over government websites.

•                     Oversee the creation of a central register with data on residents and businesses.

•                     Ability to declare certain areas to be under-serviced and secure funds to roll-out infrastructure

•                     Identify international trends such as Facebook and Chat with the view of encouraging local sites that are able to provide the same service. This will encourage innovation and access to information.

•                     Promote local content development to enhance the National Identity.

•                     Host free internet websites for any resident of of their country

ICT and Human rights

Human rights are to be understood as something we are entitled to because we are a human being. With the advent of the Internet and more and more powerful ICT tools, some of the citizens of the world are being left behind. While the information on the Web might be available to anyone, availability of infrastructure to access the Internet in lacking in many developing countries. two issues are thus defined in ICT policy, access to the information, and being given the education to use ICT.

Thus, just as the provision of water or housing, access to information and communication technologies must be provided by the government to its residents – in the same manner they provide libraries in the communities.

As for teaching ICT usage, in the Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26 it states:

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace

In earlier times we referred to the three R’s being reading, writing and arithmetic. Today, using the computer as a e-reader, blog writer, movie uploader or collaborative social movement, has become just as important to learn at the primary education level.

Our ICT policies should strive to…

“Develop the tools and systems to assist the management of our countries (government, civil society and private sector) in providing access to services and technologies to allow maximum quality of life to all who live there.”