Making A Better World - Milton Louw

Dear people who care about me, the consumers of Namibia, My humble apologies. Over the past 20 years it has been my honour of being the custodian of your personal digital information. I have on a laptop in the possession of the Namibian Police a software program I wrote in 2004 called the "Namibian Consumer Database". In that database of over 3 million records I have stored the following personal digital information if the people in it. They are: Voters Register of Namibia 1999 (VRS99) City of Windhoek debtors book 2003 Namibian Taxpayers Excel Sheet not dated Voters Register of Namibia 2009 Nambiz database 1999, 2004, 2013 Box holders of Nampost Thank you for the honour and the understanding. We in the world, and very much so here in Namibia, (where I reside with my Captain Adorable), need: Consumer Protection Act Privacy and Data Protection Protection of Personal Digital Information I believe in standards. I thank you. Milton (whose...

Introduction to the Book “Last Man Standing” refers to the winner in a contest or competition or the sole survivor of an event and it probably has its origin from the expression “Last Man Left Standing”. Recently I was reminded by a friend that I was the “last man left standing” during the last apartheid court case held in the 1980’s, namely the case of Namibia National Students’ Organisation & Others v Speaker of the National Assembly for South West Africa 1990 (1) SA 617 SWA. Students from the Academy of Namibia (which was the predecessor to both the Namibia University of Science and Technology and the University of Namibia), had held demonstrations against the apartheid regime and were arrested under The Protection of Fundamental Rights Act (No. 16 of 88) that were being used to prevent gatherings of any kind. The students at the Academy had been demonstrating for two days against the establishment of South Africa army bases near to schools, especially in the North, which had ...

A new discovery in psychoneuroimmunology in the field of mind-body medicine by Prof. A. Zielinski * Dedication : I dedicate my work to my great Teacher and Master Who is more than a Father and Friend to me and Whose unworthy ambassador I am. I wish and hope that this discovery and development will help improve the conditions of humanity. Acknowledgement : With gratitude I acknowledge the great help and support I have been receiving from many friends and such great institutes as the St. Petersburg V.M. Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research Institute, the State University of St. Petersburg, Russia, the International Academy at St. Petersburg and the Russian Academy of Science. The Paradigm of the Syndrome The scorpion is a brave an intelligent creature. It will fight when attacked, and when it realizes that it cannot win the fight, it will decide on a swift escape. Once in a demonstration of a scorpion that was in a fight, the scorpion decided to flee. A big circ...

Introduction The number of Internet users by the end of 2017 had reached 4,1 billion users. This means that for the first time, the number of internet users have exceeded the 50% mark of all the people in the world which was estimated at 7,5 billion in August 2017. The total number of users per region is shown in the following graph The breakdown of the numbers further shows that though the total number of users in Africa is 10.9%, there is only a penetration rate of 35.2% for the continent. The number of users in Namibia was 797,002 by 30 June 2017 which translates into 31.0% penetration of usage among the population. Though this number seems high, we are still lagging behind the average penetration of users in Africa (35.2%). It is also interesting to note that around 65.2% of Internet users are also users of social media, most notably Facebook. Affordability is an issue for usage In 2011, the United Nations (UN) in a report on the promotion and protection o...

Six years ago, I wrote the following: The Namibia Competition Commission (NaCC) held a consumer awareness week in the capital from 24 to 27 September 2012. The week centred around two issues, namely the competitiveness of Namibia and the need for a consumer protection law. The participants included ministries, government institutions, non-government organisations, the media and members of the public. In the one-day workshop entitled consumer protection, an absolute necessity in Namibia, various aspects of a consumer protection law for Namibia were discussed. The conclusion of the workshop was that everyone agreed a law is necessary and everyone agrees with what should be included. So what has been the delay in tabling a bill to Parliament? The Ministry of Trade Industry's Consumer Protection Division had to decide where Consumer Protection should be housed. In other words, should it stay in the Ministry, be a new Commission or be a division of the NaCC. THAT's Right! The ...

The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia must be applauded for the decision on a consumer complaint about the 18% collection commission that Mobile Telecommunications Limited (“MTC”) charges on outstanding debts. (The complaint was received in 2013.) The following is taken directly from the Media Statement published on 16 February 2018: MTC’s Subscriber Agreement states that if the subscriber breaches the contract, MTC shall be entitled to recover all legal and other costs which shall include 18% collection commission that may be legally recovered from the subscriber by MTC. The Authority concluded and resolved as follows: MTC may not charge consumers a collection commission of 18% on any debts emanating from service level agreements for the provision of telecommunication services; All debts arising from subscriber agreements between consumers and MTC are to be charged a collection commission of 10% only in line with the Magistrate’s Court Rule; and The Magistrate C...

Hi Readers, Quote of the week "Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt." - Herbert Hoover Topics this week: World Consumer Rights Day - 15 March 2018 Appointment of Consumer Representative to NSI Consumer Protection Act Housing & Estate Agents Number Portability - change your provider not your number CRAN Protects Consumers from Being Charged High Collection Fees for Outstanding Debts (by MTC) Message from NCPG Director The global consumer movement will once again unite for a day of action on 15 March 2018. The international theme for World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is ‘Making digital marketplaces fairer’. Building on the success of the 2017 #BetterDigitalWorld campaign, the 2018 campaign will aim to promote digital marketplaces that are more accessible, safer and fairer for consumers across the globe. E-commerce, or buying products and services online, has transformed the way we consume. Consumers with a connected device and ...