Transunion ITC has no legal framework

While doing research, I came across the website of these submissions by students at UNAM,  (http://wwwisis.unam.na/theses). Among the papers I discovered a paper entitled “Consumer Protection And The Legality Of Itc. A Compartative Study Between Namibia, South Africa” presented by N. Boonzaaier (Student Number 200645838) with his supervisor being K. Kangueehi.

Boonzaaier in his abstract states… “Credit sales are a common occurrence and originated before the Roman era. As time passed, especially after the industrial revolution of the 19th century (which made available consumer goods on a large scale), an increasing number of contracts of purchase and sale were concluded in terms of which payment of the purchase price would take place at a later date or over a period of time in the future. It is an incontestable fact that some ‘purchases on credit’ constitute a risk. Not only for the credit grantor, but even more so for the consumer.

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It is common knowledge that the use of consumer credit enables individuals to enjoy the services of consumer durable goods sooner than they otherwise and in a period of inflation offers them a real prospect of acquiring them more cheaply. Consumers in general are able to obtain a more satisfying ‘basket’ of goods and services with the same income. Thus consumer credit may be said to enhance consumer satisfaction. Furthermore some individuals who lack the self-discipline to save up for the purchase of a durable consumer good but are nevertheless unlikely to break their contract with a creditor are able to buy a durable consumer good which might otherwise never be theirs.

He then goes on to explore the rights of consumers, why consumer protection is needed, and the right to privacy of consumers in congruency to section 28, Article 13 of the Namibian Constitution and the provisions of the Bill of rights.

At the end of the paper he makes the following recommendations “…I concede that currently in Namibia there is no procedure in place that regulates ITC, this makes it seem like the Transunion has no legal standing in our law. It has, however, become necessary for Namibia to reform their consumer legislation and consumer protection laws, and put in place as the South Africans procedural guidelines to follow in instances of extreme default where blacklisting would be justified, because if we should declare ITC illegal, credit grantors would in actual fact have no remedy against a defaulting consumer, and this would render an imbalance of rights.”

The Ministry of Finance has promised legislation on credit bureaus and how they manage our data. Until such time, I have to strongly urge the Minister, Bank of Namibia and Namfisa work out a solution to fix this problem. Since 1999 a proposal has been made such a credit bureau would actually fit well into our Cooperatives Act without much being done in addition. This would make the cooperatives operations governed by a set of by-laws, as well as ensure ownership by the business that share this information with each other. Of course, this would also mean that Transunion would only be allowed to own a maximum of 20% in the cooperative. A rather neat way of getting Namibian ownership of a strategic resource (personal information) without using black economic empowerment or other such tools.

 In the meantime, perhaps we can consider some kind of grandfather clause to allow their operations to continue until a new law is in place.

There is another issue though that I wish to ponder:

In addition to providing credit reports to credit grantors, they also supply potential employers and some of the high unemployment can be put squarely on the shoulders of the credit bureau. After all no employer wishes to employ a person listed on the “blacklist” so many qualified people are now outside of possible employment. I argue that is, if not unconstitutional, then against the labour law, as you may not discriminate on grounds of the person’s economic status.

Shelf Labelling versus Unit Prices

In last month’s Consumer News Namibia Magazine, I wrote about the unit pricing on shelves. This refers to the practice of indicating the prices per unit (kilogramme, litre, single product in bilk packs, etc.) I had a chance to travel around Namibia during the past few weeks I was fortunate to travel around the country taking tourists to places such as Swakopmund, Walvis Bay and Okahandja. While visiting the towns I took the opportunity to visit the most common shopping places. I noticed with some joy that there are a few shops who already label their products for the convenience of the consumer. I must commend Shoprite on having almost all their products labelled with the unit price clearly indicated, while Pick & Pay has around half of their products labelled – it is perhaps just laziness at the IT department to fill in all the fields correctly in their central system as the labels already have place to indicate the unit price?  In my cursory examination at OK and Fruit and Veg, I did not find any of the products with unit prices indicated.

This was rather strange as these South African stores have the regulations and laws in South Africa, but clearly do not yet bother with our Namibian consumers till they have a law to force them. In addition, the Namibian chain store, Woermann & Brock, did not have unit pricing and I hope they consider changing this soon.  After all as a Namibian owned chain store they have moved into South Africa where I am sure they obey the South African rules.

After reading my article quite a few people contacted me about shelf pricing they see when they pick up the product and put into their basket – but find to their horror there is another price in the “computer systems” and the cashier can do nothing about it.

Whooa – as Al Pacino would say. That is not problem as a consumer. The store cannot make their problem yours. They are responsible for correctly pricing the goods on the shelves if they do not wish to price each product individually.

I had some difficulty finding the applicable laws governing commercial transactions before Independence – as these laws are still applicable until repealed by the Parliament in a Namibia Consumer Act. But, when I search through the training manuals of the Namibian Police’s Commercial Branch and found the following list (as of the day of Independence) that were applicable still in Namibia:

·         Merchandise Marks Act, 1941 (Act No. 17 of 1941),

·         Business Names Act, 1960 (Act No. 27 of 1960),

·         Price Control Act, 1964 (Act No.25 of 1964),

·         Sales and Service Matters Act, 1964 (Act No. 25 of 1964),

·         Trade Practices Act, 1976 (Act No. 76 of 1976)

This is a very interesting fact. Thus our police are able to interfere in consumer versus business matters – also on the side of the consumer. Next time this happens to you, offer to call the police unless they offer you the product at the shelf indicated price. Yes, they may even end up in jail if they do not comply.

I wonder how long before our business community will now take to also push for the creation of a Consumer Protection Act that clearly stipulates their responsibilities in the new day and age.

Consumer Day 2013

Many countries around the world commemorate 15 March as the World Consumer Day. This day has a historic importance as it was on this day 1962, when the Bill for Consumer Rights was moved in the US Congress.

This year, the theme of World Consumer Day is “Consumer Justice Now”. As Namibians we must push for our legislature to put in place a CPA as soon as possible as good consumer protection is not only about legislation, but it can also deliver justice, create a fairer society and even save lives. The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection (UNGCP) act as an international reference point of the consumer movement and can be understood to be

•                    the right to the satisfaction of basic needs

•                    the right to safety

•                    the right to be informed

•                    the right to choose

•                    the right to be heard

•                    the right to redress

•                    the right to consumer education

•                    the right to a healthy environment.

Namibia Consumer Trust, the only registered non-governmental organization and only Namibian member of Consumers International (CI) commemorates World Consumer Rights Day. Head of Consumers International Africa office, Minister of Trade and Industry as well as the Governor of Bank of Namibia are scheduled speakers.

The event is scheduled to be held at the Habitat Research & Development Centre, Claudius Kandovazu str, Katutura (next to A Shipena Sec. School) in Windhoek.

This year, the Namibia Consumer Protection Group (a lobby group and supporter of consumer activism) is asking people around the country to buy on 15 March 2013 a litre milk everywhere in Namibia, and then please post on website the price they paid and the store where they bought it. Perhaps we can we create awareness why we need a Consumer Protection Law and we can all see to what in-fluxed prices and irregularities exist in our own land of the brave. The idea is that every time you buy a litre of milk, you visit the webpage http://www.namibiamilk.com/ and upload your details.

The page will continue to operate for the next year to allow us to correlate data on what consumer throughout the country are being charged for this basic necessity.

Remember its easy, "You can report the price of milk online. Simply go to www.namibiamilk.com and click on the 'submit a report' button. Alternatively find us on Facebook by searching for Namibia Milk Price Day".

It is important that consumer in Namibia should start demanding their rights. The way it is going at present, we are simply made promises and none of them are being kept.

As an example, three years ago, on 15 March 2010 (World Consumer Day), the then Minister of Trade and Industry, Honourable Hage Geingob, promised in a speech read on his behalf that a Consumer Protection Act will be submitted to Parliament within one year. Since then Dr. Geingob has moved on to become the Right Honourable Prime Minister and is poised to become our next President in 2015. With Consumer Day again being celebrated on 15 March this year, there is however still no sign of the promised Consumer Protection Act (CPA).

We need Consumer Justice Now!

I Love My Fatherland

When I started writing this book in 2009, it began as a way of collecting my various commentaries on diverse subjects within Namibia. As I started putting them together, a theme started emerging and I remembered back to the first day of Independence in 1990 when I raised the Namibia flag for the first time over our capital Windhoek. I swore to myself that day: that I would do everything from my side to make this the best country to live in. This has led me to look at what is the Oath of Allegiance for Namibia. The only one I have found is the one prescribed for foreign nationals wishing to become Namibians in the Namibian Citizenship Act.

Thus I have formulated my own:

I…………, ID Number …….., presently residing ……… in the……… District of the …… Region, do hereby declare on oath that I will be faithful to the Republic of Namibia, observe its laws, promote all that which will advance it and oppose all that may harm it.

So Help Me God.

The singing of the National Anthem and the above oath has given me a lot of strength each morning as I prepared this second edition, and I hope I will continue to sing the anthem in the morning and re-affirm my oath as often as is necessary.

I noted that in this process I sing to my motherland, but have no mention of fatherland. As a matter of biology, this is my fathers-land and South Africa is my mothers-land.

This got me thinking: I should sing to my motherland and work for a better fatherland. It has always been part of our human culture that a father has been out to work, while the mother works at home. Perhaps in Namibia, we have become a motherland and our people have forgotten we have a fatherland and that father expects you to work.

Namibia our Fatherland, we must have the right to work. Our fathers must be able to provide for their children. Our children must know that there is an aim for their efforts at school: It is to get a meaningful work that will contribute to the well-being of Namibia and all who reside in it.

I want this in our Constitution, and while we are at it, there are a couple more things….

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