Making A Better World - Milton Louw

First printed in The Namibian 11 April 2013 Writing this weekly column has become the highlight in my week. In any given week I can expect at least three different issues to stick out their head that want to be brought to the attention of the esteemed readers. The past week was one in which more than eight different issues have been raised and I found myself overwhelmed in making the decision of what to write about. Then on Tuesday while I was in a pharmacy seeking to purchase a vitamin supplement containing ginseng and St John’s Wort, it struck me that most of the issues the past week have been about misleading advertising. But first, let me tell you about my experience at the pharmacy. For the past ten to twelve years I have been a big supporter of homeopathic medicines as an alternative to man-made medicine and worse, their expensive brand names that are pushed by our medical profession. In 2003, while spending a year studying the possibility of creating a central database fo...

First printed in The Namibian 04 April 2013 This week I wish to share with you my experience with debt and the threat by the lawyers that “the Sheriff of the Court” will come take my possessions and sell them to repay debts that have been registered with the court. I have two registered debts that I am aware of. Both are debts incurred while running my company and applied by the creditors to my personal responsibility. The one debt is stated by the creditor to be over N$ 25 000 and thus is a matter for the High Court. Now, you must keep in mind that though you might not wish to discuss your debt, the creditor is doing everything possible to make sure as many people as possible know about it. The use of the threat to inform the widest possible audience is the greatest tool of the creditor to force you to pay what the court has agreed you owe them. (This is important: The amount you are supposed to owe is the amount they have convinced the court you must pay – and I will come back to...

First printed in the  Namibian of 28 March 2013 All of us have at one time or another bought a product and on using the product notice that the expiry date has passed. The expiry date (or shelf life) indicates the length of time that foods, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, chemicals, and many other perishable items are given before they are considered unsuitable for sale, use, or consumption. This is a way in which consumers are protected from unsafe products, and it provides protection for the seller of the product as the consumer has sufficient information through the printed expiry date. Now imagine going to the shop and buying a roll of toilet paper. You store the toilet paper and after two months you take it out of its packing to use for what you bought it. Would you not be a little upset if when you start to use the toilet paper it all falls apart while you are using it? When you go to the place you bought it to insist they refund you your money, you might have to si...

In conclusion the following can be said, consumer protection forms a cardinal part of our law. Most of the time consumers constitute the layman off the street, who is not always aware of what their rights are or what they should be. Once they enter into a credit agreement with a credit grantor it is as if they hand over all their trust and rights over to the credit grantor. For this reason it is not always possible for consumers to realize when they are being trapped into an agreement, which they might not be to their benefit. It may happen that a consumer takes on more credit agreements than they can afford, and they end up defaulting on payment, in Namibia whenever a consumer defaults on the third to fourth time they are handed over to ITC, a credit bureau that blacklists consumers and restricts them from any other agreements or contracts. The consumer laws and legislation in Namibia is not reformed and up to standard to guarantee a consumer, that in the event of him/her defaultin...

Name Act No Date Ascented: Date Gazetted: Gazett-Nr: Description Act - pdf format Statistics Act Act-No: 9 of 2011 02.08.2011 18.08.2011 4777  To provide for the development of the National Statistics System and provide for its components and objectives; to establish the Namibia Statistics Agency and the Board of the Namibia Statistics Agency and provide for their powers and functions; to establish the National Spatial Data Infrastructure and provide for its objectives, to establish the Committee for Spatial Data and provide for its functions; and to provide for incidental matters.  ( 302 kb) Employment Service Act Act-No: 8 of 2011 14.07.2011 29.07.2011 4764  To provide for the establishment of the National Employment Service; to impose reporting and other obligations on certain employers and institutions; to provide for the licensure and regulat...