Not just food security – but also food safety

(First appeared in Consumer News Namibia Magazine January 2013)

Namibia is facing one of the worst droughts in the past three decades.  The Office of the Prime Minister, in March 2013, budgeted to assist about 331 000 people in communal areas that are classified as food insecure. In the meantime that amount has ballooned to almost 560 000 by December of the same year. The areas affected by the drought were mainly communal (rural) areas and resettled farms. Through the Office of the Prime Minister’s relief programme the government has distributed maize, beans, tinned fish as well as game meat.

During this period, most of the development partners have focused on poverty or food security, but very few have emphasized the need for food safety. Consumer organisations (in Namibia and abroad), also emphasize food safety when discussing food security, as this is the assurance that eating something will not damage your health.  This is an absolutely fundamental requirement, and as important as having enough food to eat.

According to Wikipedia:
“Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. The tracks within this line of thought are safety between industry and the market and then between the market and the consumer. In considering industry to market practices, food safety considerations include the origins of food including the practices relating to food labeling, food hygiene, food additives and pesticide residues, as well as policies on biotechnology and food and guidelines for the management of governmental import and export inspection and certification systems for foods. In considering market to consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer.”

The food safety challenges facing Namibia are still many. They include a lack of standards and policies, uncoordinated or perhaps even disjointed governance between organisations, inadequate testing facilities (though the Government is addressing this), lack of trained staff, porous borders with our neighbours and an absence of enforcement of the rules regarding food safety.

Perhaps it is time to asses our ability to not only react to a drought and the provision of food, but also include an element of food safety to ensure that all the people in the country are able to eat something that will not damage their health. After all the first two components of the consumer rights charter worldwide are the right to satisfaction of basic needs and the right to safety.

Milton Louw is a consumer activist and author. The opinions in this article are solely his own and in his personal capacity.

E-Justice - Changes proposed to laws on High Courts in Namibia

(First appeared in Consumer News Namibia Magazine October 2013)

Proposed amendments to the High Court Act that have been tabled in the National Assembly should pave the way for the introduction of a new electronic documents filing system in the High Court. The High Court Amendment Bill, which was motivated by the Minister of Justice, Utoni Nujoma, contains several proposed changes to the High Court Act of 1990 that would also give the Judge President of the High Court wider powers to make rules that would determine the way the court functions.

The main change highlighted in Parliament was that the provisions tabled would enable the Judge President to make rules that require legal documents to be filed with the court. The object of introducing the electronic court filing system, commonly referred to as e-justice, is to eliminate as far as possible the filing of court documents in hard copy. With the introduction of e-justice the aim is to achieve the quick and fair disposal of cases, which would in turn result in a reduction in litigation costs to the consumers / citizens in the country.

Immovable Property rules for unpaid debts

The judge president will (under the new law) be given the power to make court rules that would regulate the selling of immovable property of people being sued over unpaid debts where the property is the primary home of the debtor. Thus under the new rules, it would give the High Court the power to transfer the responsibility of collecting unpaid debts to a Magistrate’s Court.

By transferring the responsibility of collecting debts in execution of a judgement given against a debtor to a Magistrate’s Court, judges’ increasing workload would be eased and judgement debtors would no longer have to travel long distances to attend financial enquiry sessions in the High Court, as these would instead be held closer to debtors in district courts.

The High Court Amendment Bill also states that the judge president may make a rule to regulate the selling of immovable property where the property is the primary home of the person against whom a judgement has been granted. It is proposed that the judge president may prescribe that a reserve price should be set for the sale of such a property, and that the property may not be sold to the highest bidder at a price lower than the prescribed reserve price.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Another of the change in rules would allow new compulsory alternative dispute resolution mechanisms that would have to be followed in certain cases before the court.

The aim with the compulsory alternative dispute resolution mechanism (ADRM) that is to be introduced in some cases is to enable the parties involved in a dispute to avoid having to go through expensive trial proceedings in court. In countries where alternative dispute resolution mechanisms have been adopted it has been shown that disputes can be resolved quicker and less costly than through litigation and court proceedings.

In the bill it is proposed that judges should be given the power to order parties to a dispute to refer their dispute for alternative dispute resolution, and that a case may thereafter be taken to court for a hearing only if an alternative dispute resolution process has not succeeded.

Milton Louw is a writer and social activist. He is presently the IT Project Coordinator at the Electoral Commission of Namibia. All opinions expressed in this article are his own.

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Davey Galant and our housing problem

(First appeared in Consumer News Namibia Magazine October 2013)

I once played a Cape Coloured man, Davey Galant, in the Adam Small play Joanie Galant-hulle. The play deals with the eviction of people of colour from their houses due to the South African government’s policy of Apartheid. The play deals with the difficulties in a family after the forced removal and the steady degeneration of Davey into drinking and other “typical” coloured behavior.

The version of the play I acted in was called “Eviction” and reworked by Namibian playwright Frederick B. Philander to find an echo with the forced removal of the “Ou Lokasie” residents in Windhoek on 10 December 1959.

This character seems to have become my alter ego, in terms of being “my second self, or a trusted friend. The recent evictions of poor members of society by the municipalities or town councils in Namibia have brought out this “trusted friend” who uses the line “huis, paleis, pondok… malhuis’ or in English, “house, palace, shack… madhouse”.

The issue of housing in Namibia cannot be separated with the right of each and every citizen to their dignity. Without a place of safety in which we can be assured our earthly belongings will be safe, none of us will be able to continue our contribution to the society as we would be fearful of leaving our belongings in a place that is not secure.

The Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN) has announced an ambitious N$45 billion mass housing development programme through which it intends to build 185 000 houses by 2030 to mitigate the current nationwide 100 000 units housing deficit.

The initiative announced by the Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, (Rtd) Major-General Charles Namholoh on 9 September 2013, will be implemented by the National Housing Enterprise (NHE) which is mandated to build low-cost houses for low-income earners and even for middle-income earners. This is the biggest housing plan ever to be launched in the country.

This comes about after President Pohamba appointed the Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, the Director General of the National Planning Commission (NPC), the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Presidential Affairs as national committee members on the envisaged mass housing development programme. The group has been tasked to come up with ideas to accelerate the delivery of houses around the country to comprehensively address the issue of housing. It is intended that the programme will remedy the problem of inflated house prices and rental fees, which non-home owners are increasingly unable to afford.

While as consumers, we welcome the governments initiative we must ask some critical questions regarding the housing programme:

·         Does the NHE have the capacity to build 9 000 houses in the first 18 months of the programme? After all, NHE has only built 13 295 houses over the past 22 years and will now be the administrator of the mass housing programme.

·         How will financing of this programme be done? Conumer News Magazine has been informed that most of the financial will be done through government grants to be channelled through his ministry, local authorities and NHE but very few further details are available. The Minister also indicated that other sources of finance could be public-private partnerships, debt financing and household saving groups such as the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia.

·         Who will be the beneficiaries, and who will make that decision?

The Minister and the NHE need to address these pressing issues to assure the potential beneficiaries that there is finally light at the end of the tunneling for our housing woes.

Privacy and CCTV

(First appeared in Consumer News Namibia Magazine October 2013)

The Windhoek Municipality, has recently installed over 70 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in and around the town.  These are to be found in the city centre as well as at the four roadblocks at Brakwater, Heroes Acre and Daan Viljoen and one at the road block on the way to Hosea Kutako International Airport.

According to City Police Senior Superintendent Gerry Shikesho the issue of privacy was discussed and it was found not to be a serious hindrance. “Who would want to do private matters in public places,” he asked during an interview with New Era, adding that the cameras are there to safeguard everybody’s safety. The cameras have varying purposes, which include informing municipal staff of faulty streetlights, crime and fire prevention and detection, traffic management, ensuring quick responses to medical emergencies and detecting infringement of by-laws.

As consumers we have to ask if this is really the case. Has our privacy been respected or is it another attempt at taking away the rights of the individuals privacy?

The Namibian Constitution states in Article 13 states on the right to Privacy:

“(1) No persons shall be subject to interference with the privacy of their homes, correspondence or communications save as in accordance with law and as is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the protection of health or morals, for the prevention of disorder or crime or for the protection of the rights or freedoms of others.”

The Constitution thus guarantees only “Physical Privacy”. The storage of personal and business information (“Informational Privacy”) as well as the storage of our actions in a public place through the use of CCTV must have legislation that will prevent misuse of this information. In addition, the individual in Namibia must be able to access any, and all, information that is stored by the state or public institutions such as the Municipality of Windhoek. In this regard, City Police Senior Superintendent Gerry Shikesho states, Footage is recorded and stored and police can access it if it is needed for an investigation.” He said footage from the cameras is state evidence and members of the public who wish to view the footage can do so by placing formal requests through the police.

As a consumer magazine, we must once again reiterate that there are two fundamental pieces of legislation that is lacking in Namibia, namely a Data Protection Act; and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations to ensure our “informational rights” are enforced.

Data Protection Act

The Data Protection Act will give you the right to know (access) the information being held on you. It also sets certain key principles that anyone who handles personal information must comply with. The Act should also establish an Information Commissioner. The data covered is any information which can be used to identify a living person. This includes names, birthdays, addresses and other contact details. It only refers to information stored on computers.

The key principles of a Data Protection Act must include:

•             Data may only be used for the specific purpose that it was collected;

•             Data may not be shared with others without permission of the individual whom such information is about – unless there is a legitimate reason;

•             It is illegal for other parties to obtain this information without permission;

•             Individuals have the right to the information about them subject to certain conditions;

•             Personal information should not be kept longer than necessary;

•             All businesses that collect personal information must register with the Commissioner; and

•             Incorrect information must be corrected when it is brought to the attention of the data storage business.

No longer the land of milk (or honey)

((First appeared in Consumer News Namibia Magazine October 2013)

Recently the Economist newspaper also weighed in on the issue of fluctuating milk prices. “Milk prices on Namibian supermarket shelves are baffling local consumers. It used to be that there was a minor price difference between imported South African dairy products and the local brands, but this was usually in the order of one dollar or less.”

This issue has also been covered by the Namibia Consumer Protection Group (NCPG) when they proposed the 2013 Consumer Day be named “Namibia Milk Price Day”. The idea was for any Namibian consumer to buy a litre of milk and then inform the NCPG of the type of milk, the price they paid and where they bought their litre of milk.

The Consumer Action explained

This year 2013, 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 the  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 it iss 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.

Update

Since the start of the action, numerous consumers have reported the price they paid for milk and it was confusing to see how prices can fluctuate for the same product in different stores in one location such as Windhoek.

What was even more surprising (and confusing) was how prices could differ IN THE SAME STORE on different days. The prices in a period of two weeks went up and down from a low of N$ 12.99 to a high of N$ 15.70. That’s right, the price went up, then down, then up again without any understandable reason.

The consumer is being ripped off as most of us buy our milk on a daily basis and do not regularly check the price. How often have you not rushed into a shop to buy a milk and bread and paid without checking the price?

Infant Industry Protection

Now add to this the protection given to the dairy industry to protect them from milk imports from other countries, especially South Africa. This allows the local industry to increase their prices to “ensure their profitability” and prevents the consumer form choosing a product that suits their pocket.

As Namibians we can support the infant protection because it ensures there are more jobs for Namibians, but are we going to allow ourselves to be ripped off because our hearts are in the right place?

The way forward

The Government of the Republic of Namibia is urged to look into the matter and explain to the consumers how this sector is being regulated to ensure that the “infant protection” status is not allowing for excessive profits, and why the price of milk is like a roller coaster within most retail outlets.

My opinion is that most of us are being abused with the pricing because this is a necessity we cannot do without.