Housing in Namibia

First printed in Consumer News Namibia magazine - Jan 2013 edition

All Namibians have the right to an adequate standard of living, including the right to food, clothing, and housing. It is the responsibility of the politicians to ensure the legal and policy framework is in place, while it is the duty of the civil servants and employees of State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) to implement these in practical terms. Unfortunately, this has not materialised in the form of housing for all. According to estimates, the Namibian housing shortage stands at over 300 000 units. Almost 280 000 of these houses are needed for the households earning N$ 5,000 a month or less.

In 2011, the Minister of Regional, Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, Honourable Jerry Ekandjo stated at the 13th Annual Symposium of the Bank of Namibia, “I would like to emphasise that the limited access to housing in Namibia is of great concern to us all. It is worrying that there is a backlog of about 300,000 houses and that 70 per cent of the population cannot access decent residential properties mainly due to issues of availability and affordability. This alarming situation calls for radical policy measures to restore the housing market.”

Existing Government Programmes

National Housing Enterprise (NHE)

The government created the NHE in 1993 with the objective of “.. financing of housing for inhabitants of Namibia and generally providing for the housing needs of such inhabitants”. In Vision 2030 it is expected that NHE should deliver 7 937 units though no deadline is given. This compares to figures supplied in the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) housing report of 2011 that NHE has only been able to build an average of 253 houses per year since 2003.

Build Together

The Build Together Programme involves:

·         low-income households with incomes that do not exceed N$1250.00 per month

·         low-income households in squatter areas

·         low-middle income households without credit access

The programme was established to cover both rural and urban areas with a target of reaching an average of 1300 families per year.

Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (Tipeeg)

In addition to NHE and Build Together Programme, the government through Tipeeg, had as its aim to build 1 507 low-cost houses per year from 2011 until 2014. There are no results on how many of these units have been built to date.

The aim of delivering housing to all Namibians is not being met and we need to hold the management of the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) and Build Together Programme accountable.

New Developments

Not all is gloom and doom though. In September 2012, NHE announced it will establish two new components, one to service land and the second to build the houses rather than issuing tenders to companies to build the houses.

Further to this development, NHE and financial institution FNB Namibia, signed a partnership agreement in November 2012 to provide affordable homes and financing to support low-income earners to acquire housing. They will also assist customers in leveraging these assets to create wealth for themselves – or putting it plainly, using their homes for collateral to acquire credit.

As consumers we have to continue to fight for the recognition of our rights and get the knowledge about where we can access these rights. At Independence, the political and social rights were guaranteed through the Constitution. The fight for recognition of our economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights must continue until each and every Namibian has an adequate standard of living – including the assistance to own their own house.

New Year’s Resolutions to help Namibian Consumers

First printed in Consumer News Namibia magazine - Jan 2013 edition

At the beginning of every year it is common practice to make New Year’s resolutions. This is a commitment you make to one or more personal goals or objectives, or changing of a bad habit. When a person makes a New Year’s resolution they generally plan to do so for the whole of the year. It is generally accepted that these resolutions will make your life better if you follow them.

Consumer News Magazine offers the following ten resolutions to help you avoid becoming the victim of scams, prevent identity theft and save money in 2013.

1.    1.      Do your research. When making large purchases such as furniture, a car or a house, do some investigation on what various retailers and banks have to offer. It is also a good idea to get quotations from various businesses to be able to compare prices. When buying on credit you should shop around for the cheapest interest rate and beware of hidden costs such as insurance on furniture that you might already have covered under another policy.

2.      Keep your computer and mobile phone safe. Many Namibians are now using online banking as well as the mobile banking offers and should thus take extra care of these items. It is also important to keep your pin codes and account details in a safe place and not together with your phone or computer.

3.      Protect your identity. Tear up documents that might contain sensitive financial information and store all your personal documents such as Identity Document, Passport, Drivers Licence, etc. in a safe place. In addition, check your bank account regularly for payments you might not be aware of.

4.      Get everything in writing. Make sure that when you get a service from a company they put their offer in writing. This will prevent misunderstandings, and protect you if something should go wrong in the transaction.

5.      Don’t share everything on Facebook or Twitter (or other social media). A future employer or possible soul mate can see information you might prefer hidden. Do not post compromising photos, and check that others cannot tag you in photos either. Keep in mind too that the thieves can also use information about when you are on holiday to pay your house an unwelcome visit.

6.      Never send money to someone you do not know. Many scams want you to send them money before you receive your prize or whatever they are offering and one sent, you will not be able to get it back very easily.

7.      Beware of job offers that will let you make “easy money”. Unemployment in Namibia is high and crooks are now targeting the unemployed with job offers, work-at-home schemes or other business opportunities that promises big money for very little work and no experience required. If it is too good to be true, it probably is.

8.      Use a savings account. When you leave money in your savings account, you get interest on this amount. This is not always the case with cheque and credit card accounts.

9.      Budget, budget, budget. Every month you should prepare a budget to show your income, expected expenses and your savings. You must make an effort to follow this budget and you will be surprised how much you save when having a clear understanding of where your money is going.

10.  Nothing is free (except Consumer News Magazine). Beware of cash back or other free offers that encourage you to buy. There is always a price to pay, and you normally find out only later.

If you can stick to your resolutions you will be a much happier, wealthier consumer in 2013.

                                              

Implementing ICT policy for the benefit of Namibian consumer

First printed in Consumer News Namibia magazine - Jan 2013 edition

As the world is changing with new technologies, Namibians are also finding these impacting on their lives. Twenty years ago there were less than 75,000 telephones and today we have more cellular phones than people. Thus it has become important to understand ICT policy and how it should be providing benefits to our citizens.

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 Namibia needs to relook at their ICT Policy and include the mastering of ICT tools as part of their focus. These tools include the following:

• Social media revolution of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.
• Mobile telephony (not only smartphones but also older technologies such as USSD)
• 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. Our country’s leaders must address this through ICT policies that are forward looking, and easily adaptable to changes in technology.

Looking forward
ICT and Human rights

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.

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.

The Namibian 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 here.”

Understanding B2B, B2C and G2B

First printed in Consumer News Namibia magazine - Jan 2013 edition

In today’s modern world we have so many new things and often they have long names. To make our language easier we use abbreviations like LOL (laughing out loud), especially when we write or sms. As a consumer it is important to understand the types of relations between suppliers and buyers and thus the terms we use such as Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer because we need to understand the regulations in each of these markets and how we are protected – or not.

In the diagram, it shows that the end user of a product or service can either be a consumer, a business or government. (C, B or G). In the same way, the supplier of a product can either be a consumer, a business or government. (C, B or G).

Thus if the supplier is a business (B) and the purchaser is a consumer (C) we refer to this type of transaction as B2C. If a person (C) sells their car in a private sale to another consumer (C) it is a C2C transaction.

Thus we have the following abbreviations

o    Government to Government (G2G) – For example, transactions that take place between central government and the decentralised functions at local and regional level, or purchasing of electricity by government departments from town councils.

o    Government to Business (G2B) – Services provided by Government to the private sector, for example the rental of industrial buildings by the Offshore Development Company.

o    Government to Consumer (G2C) – The provision of education or registering births and deaths is an example of services provided by Government. Some of these service are stipulated as a right and should be provided free of charge, while others are provided on a cost recovery basis.

o    Business to Business (B2B) – These include all services and products supplied to the businesses as part of their production process or for own usage. For example supply of copy machines or factories supplying goods to retailers.

o    Business to Consumer (B2C) – The consumer is the end user of a product or service, for example a retail store.

o    Business to Government (B2G) – These refer to transactions where government is the end user of a product or service. Most of these are done on a contract through a tendering process.

o    Consumer to Consumer (C2C) – These normally refer to transactions of sale between consumers and can also include legally enforced financial transactions such as child maintenance

o    Consumer to Business (C2B) – This normally refers to where consumers are paid a fee or commission for promoting a product or service on behalf of a company.

o     Consumer to Government (C2G) – These are transactions where fees are paid via online payments for services such as licence fees or taxes

In Namibia we have been discussing the electronic transactions legal framework, but, as in the case of the consumer protection laws, nothing has yet been tabled in Parliament. As we become part of the global village, and the accompanying international trade environment, it is important that we get the legal framework in place to protect us as consumers.

The myth of Namibia

She wants to satisfy the needs of all her children. She has granted the custodianship to our political, religious and civic leaders - and they will have to answer her when she asks -

"What have you done with the talents I entrusted to you?