consumer news namibia november issue 2010
TRANSCRIPT
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8/7/2019 Consumer News Namibia November Issue 2010
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CONSUMERNEWS
Y O U R V O I C E
NOVEMBER 2010FREE
w w w . c o n s u m e r n e w s n a m i b i a . c o mISSN: 2026-710X
History of
Consumer
Rights
featuringGwen Lister
Renovating
Education
This is
Chicken?
Really?
sugar
water
Vitamin waterOr
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The Team
PublisherConsumer News
Printed byJohn Meinert Printing
Design & LayoutShapwa HashaliE-mail: [email protected]
EditorVictoria Kangombe
E-mail: [email protected]
Cell: 081 236 0803
JournalistsLouis Maruwasa
E-mail: [email protected]
Sylvanie Beukes
081 395 5190
Rob Parker
Kaarina Nairenge
E-mail: [email protected]
Marla Chaneta
E-mail: [email protected]
Denver Isaacs
E-mail: [email protected]
Business Development ManagerJacques Nieman
E-mail: [email protected]
Cell: 081 203 7180
Advertising Sales ExecutiveTabeth Nyahasha
E-mail: [email protected]
Cell: 081 409 3448
PhotographyNorman Skrywer
E-mail: [email protected]
Cell: 081 430 4003
Leitago /Narib
E-mail: [email protected]
Cell: 081 363 2712
Consumer NewsPO Box 96366Windhoek, Namibia
Tel/Fax: +264 61 228 196
Editors Note
CONSUMERNEWS
You deserve more ...
We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic
words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the
good people. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
CN 01
Namibia Consumer Protection Group: Milton Louw. E-mail: [email protected]
Namibia Customer Service Institute: Jon Allen. E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.namibiacsi.com
Namibian Consumer Lobby: Bob Ziekenoppasser. Tel: 064-461 461 or 081 284 8000
Namibian Standards Institution: Tel: 061-386 400 / Queries: [email protected]
Website: www.nsi.com.na
Contact details
You deserve more ...
Our mission is to create a platform for you the Namibian consumer, who strives to see
improvement in the value of goods and services and are savvy enough to spot misleading
advertising and poor quality products and services. You deserve more, and together we
have power in numbers, so we welcome your contributions, feedback, acknowledgements
and your voice on products and services that need our investigation.
Reading through some of these articles and consumer complaints, we
came to realise how angry and distressed some consumers are. Many
of the complaints we receive fromcitizens may sound like attempts to
be nasty but we believe this reects upon the poor service delivery in
the country.
It is to be expected for our contributors and complainants to sound
harsh. Our hope is that you as a business owner, target of criticism,
complainant or even a student development ofcer see these complaints
as eye-openers to the myriad of spin-off business opportunities. That is
why you should considerConsumer News as a platform to network and
materialise those business ideas that have been brewing in your mind.
In this months issue, Denver Isaacs talks to The Namibian editor Gwen
Lister, and other opinion leaders, on the history of consumer rights in
Namibia from Independence, the progress since then and where we
are today. We took a look at formal education is it actually promoting
and inspiring creative thought among our youth or is it turning them into
robots (for lack of a better word)?
We would like to extend our gratitude to Milton Louw from the Nami-
bia Consumer Protection Group (NCPG) for his timely and satisfactory
response to customer complaints. We are indeed proud to be associated
with the NCPG.
Happy reading folks and look out for our jam-packed bumper issue.
Viki
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contentsFeature
History of Consumer Rights
Featuring Gwen Lister
Editorial
Weight of prepacks and bread
By Bob Ziekenoppasser
Do you know who I am?
By Victoria Kangombe
Coca-Cola brand investigated
By Kaarina Nairenge
A standard of protection
By Louis Maruwasa
Beauty, the promise of chemicals
By Rob Parker
Formal education: innovation or deception
By Sylvanie Beukes
Consider training as motivation
By Jon Allen
Product labelling
By Kaarina Nairenge
Entertainment
Imke Rust
Arts and exhibitions
International
NCPG (Namibia Consumer Protection Group)
Local Number Portability (LNP)
Sports
IRB Rugby World Cup
table of
04
06
08
12
14
1820
22
24
27
2628
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8/7/2019 Consumer News Namibia November Issue 2010
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A L IT TLE MORE OF THIS. . . AND A L IT TLE LESS OF THAT?
TEAM NAMIBIA MEMB ERS AND SUPPORT ERS CREATE LOCAL WEALTH.
TE AM NAMIBIA. BE NAMIBIAN - BUY NAMIBIAN. C RE ATING JOBS . S UPPORTING LOC AL BUS INE S S .
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The Oxford dictionary quite thinly denes theword democracy as a state governed according to
the will of its people.
But even within such a sparse explanation, one can
imagine that this will of the people was intended
to mean more than just the political symbolism ofqueuing up at the community hall every four years
to cross off the names of your favourite politicians.
You would not, for example, in a country ruled on
this premise, expect citizens to have to buy stale
bread because they have no other option. Because
here, consumers have rights.
And in this capitalist system, defending these
rights may very well be the true test of that de-
mocracy.
Namibia has been on her own feet for the last 20
years now but when talking about property prices,
electricity hikes or just the price of basic com-
modities, the Namibian consumer is never easily
dened as pushy.
A birds eye
I certainly do believe that consumer rights have
a connection with the broader struggle for democ-racy. In fact, this is what it is all about says Gwen
Lister, editor of the countrys longest running in-
dependent newspaper, The Namibian.
The daily dedicates a page a day to readers text
messages, widely comprised of both complaints
and praise on consumer issues, as well as political
matters. And with over 20 years of reporting on
local matters, Consumer News gauged her views
on whether consumer issues have changed at allbetween now and Independence back in 1990.
Yes, theyve changed. And the situation has prob-
ably gotten far worse as costs escalate on all fronts.
Consumer Rights in Namibia -Two decades and counting
Issues such as rent control, for example, are not
even issues here in Namibia and they should be!
Property prices are astronomical and unaffordable
even to middle income buyers, she says.
She mentions the property bubble set in motion
back in 1991 after the arrival of UNTAG at Inde-
pendence, which is yet to burst.
Our capital, Windhoek, is especially known to be
very expensive with regards to property, whether
one rents or buys. Consumer goods are no excep-
tion. People do complain a lot about these things,
but nothing effective ever really gets done.
Also, consumers themselves are far too apathetic.
They care about high costs of course, but are not
prepared to march, demonstrate or boycott or dothe things people in most other democracies would
do when faced with escalations she says.
I do think that government did something about
certain basic foodstuff being tax exempt, but be-
cause we dont have active monitors, one is never
sure whether the retail outlets observe these ex-
emptions and put the price up to accommodate
that, Lister says.
On the ground
One group that has taken it upon themselves to
change that perception is the Khomasdal-based
Workers Advice Centre, whose members can often
be found in court representing communities who
feel wronged by corporate interests.
While the organisations practice of including
themselves as applicants in clients cases (from
home evictions to pension recoveries) has madethem quite unpopular in legal circles, their pres-
ence often results in the type of demonstrations
and public displays of consumer dissatisfaction
that make media headlines.
f e a t u r e
By: Denver Isaacs
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The Centre is most notorious for its persistence in
calling for the retrieval of N$116 million which it
says belonged to the workers of the now-defunct
TCL mine in Tsumeb, and which the company in-
sisted was used in its liquidation process.
To be honest, the state of consumer rights here isdire. Its just plain daylight robbery. Theres no
price control, theres no active regulation. And the
main reason is because South African businesses,
who run the biggest share of industry, see Namibia
as no-mans-land, says Hewat Beukes.
There are (international) companies that have
agents responsible for selling here, but they dont
have anyone catering for customer service. This
place is merely a dumping ground for them, hesays. As far as the level of apathy among Namib-
ian consumers goes, Beukes blames the national
trade union movement for what he says is a lack
of leadership.
By Independence there was this strong trade
union movement. But while it had large populous
setup, it was in fact undermined by a strong na-
tionalistic leadership. So to speak of a trade union
movement that is there for the people is a complete
farce, Beukes says.
But take our ght against TCL, and other cases,
and youll see. Were on the brink of a revolution,
adds fellow WAC, Amilcar Beukes. People are
starting to see that only through educating them-
selves on their issues, and standing up for them-
selves, is there really a future to speak of. People
are starting to self-organise. You see it with all
these evictions by the municipalities; people arent
standing for it anymore, he says.
Enter the Commission
On the positive side, the Namibia Competition
Commission (NCC) recently came into being in
December 2009, after already starting to show its
teeth around August that year. The commission is
meant to protect the business market from mono-
polies and bullies, from mergers that would result
in cartels and prevent or lessen competition, and
also to look out for the interests of SMEs.
Namibia is currently one of only two countries in
Southern Africa (along with SA) to have compe-
tition laws such as this in place, and agencies to
implement the law. To date, the agency says it has
dealt with more than 70 cases since its inception,
which could be an indication of positive change
on the way.
Deputy Permanent Secretary of Trade and Indus-
try, Daniel Nghidinua, in his speech at the NCCs
December launch, had high hopes for the commis-sion: It is a known fact that while trade undoubt-
edly brings wider product choices for consumers
through imports, and allows our economy to inte-
grate as part of the regional and international mar-
ket and economy, it potentially has implications
for local industrial capacity and competition of lo-
cally produced goods and production.
Still, its early days in the life of the Commission
and the sceptics already have their theories. Idoubt theyll do anything for the smaller man on
the street. To me it looks more like the new elite
trying to get their foot into the door of territory
held by an opposing cartel.
Look at the sales of Mercedez Benz, Toyota etc.
Your Pupkewitz and your M&Z have run these
forever. Theyre the ofcial agents so you have
to buy through them. And that makes it difcult
for anyone else to enter the market. So unless theyprove me wrong, I think this Commission will
only be trying to move the business between one
cartel and the other. I dont think it will show any
relevance to the man on the street, opines Hewat
Beukes.
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The time is seriously overdue for the Ministry of Trade and Indus-try, which is, according to their website, responsible for the devel-
opment of appropriate policies, legal framework and programmes
for business, to start checking, at random, the weight of imported
pre-packed vegetables and fruits.
On doing regular checks on fruit and vegetables, by placing the
packets on a scale at supermarkets, I found that many of these pre-
packs are underweight, hardly overweight.
Products to be on the look-out for are: apples, pears, carrots,
beetroot, bananas, potatoes and tomatoes. I have also found that
vegetables packed in netting bags are mostly underweight. Really,
when last were those scales checked for the correct calibration?
One might even be in for more shocks if all the scales in outlets
were checked on a regular basis.
On checking bakery products such as loaves of bread wrapped in
cling wrap and price-labelled by the supermarket outlets, it was
found that special loaves of 400g mostly weighed 50-70g less. The
consumer is still being dealt the short end of the stick. It seems that
there is not one shop in Namibia that has the correct weight for
bread and brtchens. I speak under correction though, as I am yetto walk into such a shop!
If I am well informed a brtchen should weigh 55g. I have so far
failed to nd one that is 55g. I also dont understand why ham-
burger buns cost 70-80c more than brtchens do. How many
more grams of our do they use to produce a hamburger bun? I
have also come to realise that years ago, when buying a hotdog,
one would nd that a vienna sausage would be longer than the
brtchen.
After helping out at an uncles corner shop sometime, I was the
resident hotdog-maker guy by the way and I realised how shorter
and shorter the vienna sausages were becoming. I know for sure
that it wasnt the rolls that were getting bigger!
Weight ofprepacks
andbread
I again question, why hotdog rolls with the same quantity of our
must cost 55c more than a brtchen. Are we as consumers madeto believe that we are simply too dumb to understand that it takes
more time to get hamburgers and hotdogs correctly shaped?
Its also sad to see how, on a regular basis, certain products go up
in price but have shrunk in size. I went to a supermarket recently
and was shocked to see how custard doughnuts have diminished in
size. I could go on and on about shrinking product sizes and their
respective escalating prices. So can you by the way, it will make a
difference.
All things considered, all consumers should be vigilant in purchas-
ing goods that have been pre-weighed and are encouraged to test
such weights in-store with the scales provided. And dont be too
complacent to demand for what is deservedly yours. You are the
consumer after all. And you are always right.
e d i t o r i a l
By: Bob Ziekenoppasser
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Oshakati ( 065) 221 358 Rundu (066) 255 645 Windhoek Head Office (061) 207 4111
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Applicants should be Namibian citizens.
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The available installment options are:
monthly, quarterly, bi-annual or annual.
Loans are granted against security of fixed
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surrendering value of policies).
Applicants must provide a quotation
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Companies or co-operatives should
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Loans are repayable over periods
which vary between five and ten
years. Legally acceptable conventional
collateral will be accepted as security.
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Just recently, I was standing in a queue in one ofWindhoeks very affordable clothing retail stores,
when I realised that there are only two tellers for a
queue of fteen people. I peeked over to the opposite
end of the tellers booth and realised there was a third
teller who had been sitting there just twiddling her
thumbs. Waiting for knock-off time I guess.
Being the Namibian that I am, I swiftly rushed over
to her before anybody realised that there is an escape
route out of the queue.
Getting there, and with my friendliest smile, she gives
me one of those mid-month-Im-broke looks and un-
couthly said: You people must wait until I call you. I
also have other things to do you know. Dumbstruck,
I just stood there and contemplated on whether to keep
my cool and be complacent, being the Namibian that I
am. Or take the matter up and remind her of who I am.
I opted for option B. I asked her whether she knew
who I am, making sure to raise my voice at the second
go so as to alert the other you peoples to an availableteller. Her mid-month smile faded into a humble she
must be another ministers child smile. No maam.
But would that be cash or card? I was still not sat-
ised. Its not everyday that one can throw compla-
cency out of the window you know.
So I asked her again: Do you know who I am? after
assuring me that she doesnt, I reminded her that I am
a consumer and deserve better treatment. I make sure
that you can sit there and have a loaf of bread to take
home every month-end (twiddling your thumbs hap-pens to be your choice). I shop till I drop to assure that
you get a bonus at the end of the year. Do you know
who I am now? Do you still have other things to do?
This piece may seem fury-lled, but how exactly
should one react to a rude teller or shop assistant who
feels, and clearly displays, that your presence is a nui-
sance to them?
Everybodys thought of a teller is, well at the most
part, someone who will do what they are hired to do to
make your shopping experience as pleasant as possi-
ble. Yes, some customers can be extremely frustrating
but as a service provider bite your tongue and smile
through it!
If you think about it though, such behaviour is a re-
ection of what is happening at top management. If
those at the frontline are not motivated enough toprovide good service, it could be an indicator that
management is either not paying them enough, is not
making their work conditions conducive for growth,
or maybe management has not outlined what it is that
is required of them and have not communicated the
companys mission and goals.
I will assume it is also safe to say that perhaps man-
agement should reassess their recruitment processes.
Some companies often disregard the need for a prop-
er recruitment process for low paying positions. Onewould often nd that tellers are asked to bring in a
friend or relative to ll in the position. These friends
and relatives are given one-day training on how to
scan an item, how to use the cash register and how to
cash up. Thats it. Mind you, this is all done during
working hours.
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. I did not mention
a course in customer service provision. Recruiters of-
ten disregard that function, assuming that everybody
knows how to work with people,ignoring the fact thatthis is the most difcult aspect in the workplace.
Perhaps it is not fair, for consumers, to chastise tell-
ers and other frontline workers. It is however very
little to ask for frontline workers to be trained on how
to communicate with consumers, and to handle con-
sumer inquiries. Frontline workers should be trained
on how to handle difcult consumers so they dont
have reason to assume that all consumers are difcult
and deserve a mid-month Im broke and have better
things to do look and attitude. So next time you havethe rude teller experience, tell them you understand.
Be a fellow consumer to them and ask to advocate for
them to their manager.
Do you know who I am?
e d i t o r i a l
By: Victoria Kangombe
08 CN
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Martha adviss consumrs not tous th kttl unncssarily as shhas noticd that as soon as shswitchs th kttl on, th availablunits dwindl fast. Through allth nrgy savings mthods hrhoushold adopts, sh uss onavrag only N$20,00 lctricitya day.Marth
aFarmer,
Windhoek
Congratulations
to all our
other winners:
Danilla Brown
Acquillah Tjavondja
Ccilia Mutanga
Marlin Hansn
Johanna Hoss
Grtruid
Schluckwrdr
Jambllu
Kauhangng
David Hangom
Flornc Litabula
Katwa Batric
Mika Shiindi
Shikwa Lucas
Thopolina RukoroMathus switchs off all lights andappliancs not in us and hasrplacd all convntional bulbs withCFL nrgy savings bulbs at hom.
LonaSwartz,Okahandja
Lonas advic to all lctricityusrs is to us lctricity
wisly. Through doing so,hr houshold consisting ofthirtn family mmbrs, only
uss about N$200,00 worth oflctricity a month.
Sh says it can b don, byadopting simpl masurs liknjoying a braai at last onc
a wk and switching off allappliancs not in us.
My mssag to all lctricityconsumrs is to switchoff all dvics lik cllphon chargrs at thplug sockt whn notbing usd.
SMS COMPeTITION WINNeRS
Don't Waste a Watt!!
Matheus Kondjeinaso,
Rehoboth
MarcelaGaonak
gotsi,
Otjiwarongo
For more information please visit our website at www.nampower.com.na
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As a farmr, it is ssntial thatnrgy savings bcoms a part ofgood farming practic. Tini hasbuilt timrs into his 150 litr gysr
which only switchs on in th arlyhours of th morning for an hourand again in th arly vning foran hour. From 36 units usd aday, th gysr now only uss 22units, which convrts to a savingof 14 units a day. Ovr th priodof a yar, th saving is normousjust from implmnting this onnrgy savings dvic.
maShindaadi-Malima,Windhoek
I tll my family to switch offlights and unplug all appliancsnot in us. It rally hlps, and Ihav noticd a diffrnc, and bydoing so w sav up to N$100,00lctricity a month.
My mssag to all lctricityconsumrs is to switch off allappliancs not bing usd. It is notncssary to lav th tlvision
on whil cooking mals; lav thiron on whn doing somthing ls;or vacuuming small spacs whn
a broom can do th job just as wll.By doing so, I sav N$120,00 on mylctricity bill monthly.
Martha switchs off allappliancs whn not in us
and maks a conscious ffort
on a daily basis to sav nrgywhrvr possibl.
MarthaEmvula,Windhoek
LydiaHawaes,Okahandja
My mssag to all lctricity consumrsis not to us all lctrical appliancs atth sam tim.
Plas sav lctricity bcaus lif isxpnsiv, and us it wisly.
NaomiDraghoender,
Windhoek
Naomi was all smils whnsh rcivd th N$500,00 frlctricity prpaid vouchr. Shputs all lights off whn thr isno-on in a room at hom anduss lctricity sparingly.
Abl switchs off allappliancs whn h gosto work and whn h gtshom, uss lctricitysparingly.
PatriciaKandoro
zu,
Windhoek
Patricia savs lctricity byswitching off lights not nddand using th CFL nrgy savingbulbs. In addition, during thsummr months th gysr isusually st vry low.
AbelKongjeniGerson,Oshakati
TienieBotha,
Windhoek
erhardNangula,Windhoek
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Coca-Cola is one of the largest beverage company,
manufacturer, distributor and marketer of non-al-
coholic beverages. Coke is extremely popular in
Africa with 36 billion bottles of Coke consumed
every year. Moreover, Coca-Cola Company dis-
tributes sparkling and still beverages such as wa-
VitaminwaterbrandmanipulationBy Kaarina Nairenge
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ter, and fruit drinks. The rst Coca-Cola drink was
bottled between 1885 and 1886 by John Pemberton.
John marked it as patent medicine and claimed that
it would cure whatever ailed the consumers, includ-
ing headaches, impotence and acted as morphine for
those who needed it.
The name Coca-Cola is derived from its two origi-nal medical ingredients Coca a derivative of the
Coca leaf from which cocaine is produced. The
drink contains Cola from the Kola nut from which
caffeine is extracted. The Company decided to cut
out the active cocaine-effect inducer after public
speculation that the drink had similar effects to co-
caine and morphine.
The controversies surrounding labelling and the in-
gredients of Coke products have continued to thisday. So can it really be news to everyones ears that
Coca-Cola Companys Vitaminwater has an inter-
esting storyline behind it? This is what I mean: on
May 25, 2007, Coca-Cola Company announced
news about acquiring the energy drink brand Vi-
taminwater at the acquisition of $4.1 billion in cash.
The story ofVitaminwaterVitaminwater began in 1996 in New York City when
adventurer J. Darius Bikoff was suffering from a rag-
ing thirst and low energy. He was feeling rundown
and gargled a vitamin C tablet and chased it with a
swig of water. The combination of avour and nour-
ishment inspired Bikoff and he developed Vitamin-
water. It was marketed as an active lifestyle bever-
age that is packed with nutrients. It was launched at
the start of the new millennium.
While the product purports to be a healthy lifestyle
choice the truth is that the product is little more
than sugar water with a handful of synthetic vita-mins thrown in. These tactics seem to break the
Jelly Bean Rule established by the U.S Food and
Drug Administration on May 19, 1994. This is a
rule against unfair labelling and is meant to pro-
tect consumers. The rule is there to prevent just
the type of misleading advertising perpetuated by
Coca-Cola in this instance. The rule states that youcannot add a healthy ingredient (like vitamins) to
a product which is fundamentally unsuitable like
a jelly bean, just so the company can claim it is
healthy.
Coca-Cola was sued recently, and lost, over these
Vitaminwater claims, because the Vitaminwater
adverts and the message put across is misleading
to consumers. The lawyer of Coca-Cola had the
audacity to assert that no consumer could reason-
ably be misled into thinking that Vitaminwaterwas a healthy beverage even after the company
deliberately marketed and branded their product
as such.
Come to think of it, what kinds of nutrients are
found in Vitaminwater that can build you up into
more muscles than Brussels or keep you perky
when you are feeling murky. Is Vitaminwater re-
ally a healthy product or does Coca-Cola use a Jel-
ly Bean rule to claim that Vitaminwater is healthywhen it is not? The results of the lawsuit suggest
the latter is true.
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On October 14th, the world celebrates World StandardsDay. The day honours the efforts of the thousands of expertswho develop voluntary standards within standards develop-
ment organisations such as the International Electrotechni-
cal Commission (IEC), International Organisation for Stan-
dardisation (ISO), and the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU). The aim of World Standards Day is to raise
awareness among regulators, industry and consumers as to
the importance of standardisation of the global economy.
But why are standards required in the rst place?
National standards at their most basic level ensure a qual-
ity of performance. They protect consumers from bad per-
formance and even from fatal consequences. Medicine, air-
planes, car components are all products that, if they were to
fail or be improperly made, could have fatal results for those
consumers using them. This is why standard bureaus and in-
stitutions of standards were created.
In Namibia the role of ensuring that products adhere to stan-
dards falls on the Namibia Standards Information and Qual-
ity Ofce or simply through its active arm the Namibian
Standards Institutution. Here is a brief background on the
organisation and its role:
NSIQO StandardsThe Namibia Standards Information and Quality Ofce
(NSIQO) was established on 1, January, 1996 as a govern-
ment department and operates under the Ministry of Trade
and Industry. The ofce developed a National Quality Policy
(NQP), which was adopted by Cabinet on 1 June 1999. The
NQP is designed to improve the quality of life in Namibia,
as reected in the living conditions of the people, by making
improvements in the countrys products and services a cen-
tral focus of the implementation of all development projects.
The objectives of the NSIQO include:
to provide information on standards and technicalspecications used worldwide;
to facilitate the access and ow of information on
quality infrastructure;
to promote the concept of quality awareness within
industry as well as in the general public; and
to encourage Namibian companies to produce quality
and safe products.
During June of 2010 the Namibian Standards Institution
signed a memorandum of understanding with the SABS
(South African Bureau of Standards) in order to obtain help
in the formulation and development of NSI technical capac-
ity in standardisation, conformity assessment and quality as-surance.
This was part of the government effort to grow their capac-
ity, thereby ensuring that products that are made in Namibia
or end up on Namibian shelves are of sufcient quality.A standards bureau investigates issues such as whether a
milk product made in Namibia or elsewhere is really safe
and contains what the package says it contains. We have
seen the effects of simple products like these not being made
to standard in the way that several times children in China
have gotten sick and even died from tainted milk. Or the
case of home-brewed beer that killed and left blind people
in Kenya.
A standards bureau is also necessary to stop shops from hav-
ing expired products on shelves by forcing manufacturers
of all perishable goods to display expiry dates and therefore
protect consumers from buying expired produce.
It also dictates the manner in which certain product classes
must be manufactured. For instance, it was these types of
standards and the effort of consumer rights organisations
that made it mandatory that all cars have seat belts.
Detailing standards also allows Namibian industry to make
goods that can be exported to other countries as they meet
international regulations for quality required in that prod-
uct class. It also gives the nation a framework for improv-
ing quality of locally-produced goods for export purposes.
It also ensures that when these goods are sent oversees thechances of them being rejected by authorities in the destina-
tion country are minimal.
Standards are set at the international level via organisations
like the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and collectively
agreed upon by nations to avoid Technical Barriers to Trade
Agreement (TBT) which are regulations, standards, testing
and certication procedures that create unnecessary obsta-
cles to trade.
Yes, Namibia is trying to keep products to standard but there
is a thorny issue that, adhering to standards raises, speci -cally in what category do the low quality Chinese goods that
are being allowed on the Namibian market fall? Should they
be banned or analysed by the bureau before being given im-
port licenses for Namibia?
There has been a clamping down on some low quality goods
on the Namibian market, but it is hoped that in future the na-
tion becomes even more proactive in defending the consum-
ers of services and goods in Namibia, by ensuring that only
those that meet the standard remain in the market space.
The Namibian Standards Institutution aptly uses as its slogan
creating peace of mind. As long as standards are vigor-ously maintained, the people of Namibia should have peace
of mind when buying goods within the country, as should
consumers in international markets when buying Namibian
products.
A standard ofprotection
e d i t o r i a l
By: Louis Maruwasa
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Beauty, thepromiseof
chemicals
18 CN
Do you know what ingredients are used in your beautycare products? Are the everyday products that you are
applying to your face, skin and hair really safe for use?
For everyday use? Canadian scientist David Suzuki,
through his foundation, recently released a list of the
dirty dozen chemicals and elements contained in make-
up which may be harmful to you.
The foundation (no pun intended) states that they recruited
6,200 volunteers to check ingredients listed in 12,550 everyday
cosmetic products. The list included shampoo, toothpaste, lip-
stick and skin cleansers.
The team attempted to identify products which contained 12
chemicals the foundation says are linked to cancer, severe aller-
gies and asthma, and reproductive disorders. 80% of the prod-
ucts checked, or four out of every ve, contained one of the
twelve agged chemicals.
Lisa Gue, the groups health specialist spoke about the results:
Our survey results indicate the widespread presence of a dirty
dozen ingredients in products that we use on our bodies every
day. Clearly we need more effective regulatory action to keep
these potentially harmful chemicals out of consumer products.
Many of the labels are misleading due to loopholes in the regu-
latory framework, she says. The blanket term of perfume
for example disguises a cocktail of harmful chemicals. The fra-
grance loophole clearly fails the sniff test, Gue said. Cosmet-
ic manufacturers should be required to specify which chemicals
they use as fragrance ingredients, and potentially harmful ingre-
dients should be replaced with safer alternatives.
The dirty dozen as the chemicals are known are listed below.
The dirty dozen:
1 BHA and BHT. Used in moisturisers as preservatives,
the suspected endocrine disruptors may cause cancer and are
known to be harmful to sh and other wildlife
2 Coal-tar dyes such as p-phenylenediamine and colours list-ed as CI followed by ve digits. Used in some hair dyes, may be
contaminated with heavy metals toxic to the brain.
3 DEA, cocamide DEA and lauramide DEA is used in some
creamy and foaming moisturisers and shampoos. These can re-
act to form nitrosamines, which may cause cancer and are said
to be harmful to sh and other wildlife.
4 Dibuytl phthalate is used as a plasticiser in some nail-care
products. This chemical is a suspected endocrine disrupter and
reproductive toxicant. It is also harmful to sh and other wild-
life.
5 Formaldehyde releasing preservatives such as DMDM hy-
dantoin, diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, methenamine,
quarternium-15 and sodium hydroxymethylglycinate are used
in a variety of cosmetics. These slowly release small amounts
of formaldehyde, which causes cancer.
6 Paraben, methylparaben, butylparaben and propylparaben
are used in a variety of cosmetics as preservatives. These are
suspected endocrine disrupters and may interfere with male re-
productive functions.
7 Perfume. This is any mixture of fragrance ingredients used
in a variety of cosmetics. Some fragrance ingredients can trig-ger allergies and asthma. Some are linked to cancer and neuro-
toxicity. Some are harmful to sh and other wildlife.
8 PEG Compounds such as PEG-60 is used in some cosmetic
cream bases. It is said to be contaminated with 1.4-dioxane,
which may cause cancer.
9 Petrolatum. Used in some hair products for shine and as a
moisture barrier in some lip balms, lip sticks and moisturisers.
A petroleum product can be contaminated with polycyclic aro-
matic hydrocarbons, which may cause cancer.
10 Siloxanes: cyclotetrasiloxane, cyclopentasiloxane, cy-
clohexasiloxane and cyclopethicone are used in a variety of
cosmetics to soften, smooth and moisten. These are suspected
endocrine disrupters and reproductive toxicant (cyclotetrasilox-
ane). These are also harmful to sh and other wildlife.
11 Sodium laureth sulphate. Used in some foaming cosmetics,
such as shampoos, cleansers and bubble bath. Can be contami-
nated with 1.4-dioxane, which may cause cancer.
12 Triclosan is used in some antibacterial cosmetics, such as
toothpastes, cleansers and deodorants. This chemical is a sus-
pected endocrine disrupter and may contribute to antibiotic re-
sistance in bacteria. This chemical is harmful to sh and other
wildlife.
Courtesy the David Suzuki Foundation- Via Canadian Broad-
casting Corporation.
Visit the site at http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
e d i t o r i a l
By: Rob Parker
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We are living in an age that is rich with informa-tion. Cellular phones, Car Phones, Fax machines,
Voice mail, Call forwarding/call waiting, Email.
Theres a paralysing menu of communication
tools. In this blizzard of information overload,
our education system has not advanced to meet
the increased ow in data. Children are still being
taught in conventional classroom settings with aboard and a teacher, and we ask ourselves: Why
are there so many school drop outs? Perhaps the
question we should ask is what is wrong with the
education system that children dont nd it inter-
esting anymore? It than becomes clear that the
education system is strongly contesting against iP-
ods, PlayStation, DSTV, Wii etc. for childrens
attention. These seem to be far more interesting
than the ordinary classroom setting.
However if we do not nd the answer to this ques-
tion, our children dont stand a ghting chance
in this global information wave. The truth is the
world is changing at an ever accelerating pace.
Life, society, and economics are becoming ever
more complex. The nature of work is radically
Formal education:Innovation or
Deception?
o p i n i o n
By: Sylvanie Beukes
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shifting. Jobs are disappearing at an unprecedent-
ed rate. It is an age of uncertainty. And whoever
hesitates is lost! Therefore the speed at which the
world is changing demands a matching ability to
learn faster. As a nation we urgently need to im-
prove the quality of our education system. Wheth-
er you have school-age children or not this subject
is of vital importance to you. It affects you as ataxpayer, citizen and member of the work force.
We are all aware that automation is replacing low-
skill repetitive jobs; this is an age of technologi-
cal unemployment. Our own unemployment rate
is over 50%, our grandparents often held one job
for their rest of their lives. Our parents probably
had one or two jobs. Todays school dropouts face
the intimidating prospect of three or four career,
changes during the course of their lifetime. Careersnot just jobs, it is no longer relevant to ask: What
do you want to do when you grow up? The ques-
tion should instead be: What do you want to be
rst? We have gone from being resource rich in
the old economy to being resource poor in the new
economy almost overnight. And that is because
our public education system has not successfully
made the shift from teaching the memorisation of
facts to achieving critical thinking skills.
The current education system does a wonderfuljob of educating a minority to a good standard, but
huge advances in the standards of education of the
majority need to be made in the next few years.
Children are leaving schools poorly equipped for
all the jobs of the future: the jobs that will require
very high standards of analytical thought, creativi-
ty and exibility. In fact, who really knows exactly
what these jobs will be? An Education system that
will be far more useful for Namibia would be of
raising the educational standards of everyone notjust the elite minority. And an emphasis on person-
al growth rather than just material advancement.
This is an important solution to the challenges to
come. The focus of schooling must be broadened
from the acquisition of knowledge to include the
development of wisdom and emotional maturity.
Our technical competence as society is far out-
stripping our ability to make wise choices.
Most education and training, however, still con-centrates almost exclusively on the content and
not the process. A signicant difference between
people who are labelled as poor learners and
those that are labelled effective learners is sim-
ply that the latter have worked out some effective
strategies for learning. Its not just the acquiring bits
and pieces of general knowledge. It cant simply be
measured by grades and exam results. Its not just
taking onboard what other people know. Learning
is a lifelong adventure. Its a never-ending voyage
of exploration to create your own understanding.
Learning must begin much earlier than the childsrst day at school and it must continue well in to
retirement. We need to make changes urgently. We
need to help all parents create a rich, stimulating,
thought-provoking environment in the pre-school
years. In the primary school years, we need smaller
class sizes and the active collaboration of parents
with the school to provide their children with inter-
esting, challenging, and relevant projects that stimu-
late curiosity and thought.
In the early secondary school years, we need to en-
sure that students become capable of learning on
their own so they can fully utilise the dazzling oppor-
tunities of the interactive learning aids. They should
also be working collaboratively to tackle problems,
such as community issues that engage their interest
because they are relevant to their lives.
The investment should be in attaining the vision of
lifelong learning through a partnership that involves
students, parents, teachers, business executives andgovernment leaders. A partnership which recognis-
es that education is a mutual shared responsibility.
Data is the new oil and to tap into this rich resource
we need to develop our minds and that of our chil-
dren. After all, wasnt it Winston Churchill that said
The empires of the future will be the empires of the
mind!
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CONSIDER TRAINING AS MOTIVATION
Jackson Brown Jr., an American author, once said:
Dont waste time learning the tricks of the trade.
Instead, learn the trade. Perhaps we can modify it
to suit the purpose of this piece: Dont waste time
teaching the tricks of the trade. Instead, teach thetrade. Teach your staff the trade and you wouldnt
have to be foraging around for tricks.
Invest in your people. Empower your people. We
all want to be motivated on a daily basis. We all want
motivation to get us through what often is a day in
which were not following our passion.
Were most often stuck in a job where all we want
to achieve, is working for our rent/bond, our carpayment (if were fortunate to own one), and to
have our Edgars and cellphone accounts paid suc-
cessfully on a monthly basis. Were not in the least
bit interested in putting in any effort beyond the end
of our shift because theres absolutely no incentive
to do so.
Those most prepared to have customer service train-
ing done in our country at the moment are the wor-
ried well. Those that are actually in the greatest
need for training either dont realise the desperateneed or dont think its important enough to invest
in. I read something years ago which read If you
think training your staff and having them leave, is
hard; try not training them and having them stay!
Imagine the effect on your business then?
As people, continuous education and constantly
upgrading our knowledge is vital for development.
Learning is a non-stop process. Since the onset of
the internet, we all have an innite amount of in-
formation at our disposal substantially more easilyaccessible than ten years ago.
There are so many training courses available in the
local market today, thats if were not training our
staff continuously, then were still in the stone-age.
There are a number of training institutions offer-
ing customer service training specically, including
ourselves, that is truly worth your while investigat-
ing. As far as content, cost and medium-term effect
on your business is concerned, training alone is not
going to do it, but its a great start.
Training is right up there alongside caring for your
staff and motivating them as well as effectively and
proactively managing them. The effect on your
business will be remarkable. No time like the pres-
ent especially with Christmas fast approaching. The
season for shopping (being inundated by customers
the reason why were all in business, remember?).
Think about it. Invest in your business by investing
in the development of your staff.
Creating Opportunity,
Changing the Face of
Customer Service
Creating Opportunity, Changing the Face ofCustomer Service
e d i t o r i a l
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By Marla Chaneta
New Works is a combined art exhibition by Imke Rustand Silke Berens that opened on the 18th of October at
Studio 77. The artworks showcased personied meta-
phorical expressions of human gures and illustrated
the difculties and hardships encountered in human
relationships.
This theme is made manifest through the use of digital
print and the traditional painting. The pieces by Imke
originated from photographs that she later overshad-
owed using a paint brush and acrylic paint. This com-
bination of digital art and painting creates a transition
24 CN
NewWorks
e n t e r t a i n m e n t
The Dream II by Imke Rust
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between rough and smooth strokes, producing a multi-
textural feel.
The use of multi-texture creates a deeper, dreamier
tone to the art. Making it mysterious yet easy to un-
derstand and relate to. Silke Berens work however
employs the traditional painting approach. Both artists
have a shared interest in human gures, yet a contrastis drawn through the use of oil paint in these works.
The use of oil paint adds weight and heaviness to the
art. This, in turn, creates an atmosphere of moods that
move the viewer into an imaginative air, allowing one
to escape into the painting and respond subconscious-
ly to the imagery portrayed.
Consumer News had a heart-to-heart with Imke and
this is what she had to say about her work and her
inspiration:
1) How long have you been painting?For as long as I know, I have been drawing and paint -
ing and just love being creative. In 1999 I started to
take this passion more seriously and decided to make
it my profession, so I enrolled for a Visual Arts Degree
at the University of South Africa.
2) What is your biggest source of inspiration?
I nd inspiration in so many things. I am fascinated by
any interesting visual stimulation, thought-processes,
relationships between things and symbolic stuff. When
something catches my eye or my minds attention, I
would try to connect more and more dots visually and
conceptually and see where it leads me to.
3) Why the interest in human gures?
The human gure is intriguing because it is visually
beautiful and interesting, but almost more importantly
it is so close to home. It immediately establishes an
emotional, psychological and personal connection be-
tween the viewer, the artist and the artwork. Everything
becomes more personal when a person is involved.
4) What does it mean to use a multi-textural combina-
tion?
The choice of the media I use in my artworks usuallyforms an important and integral part of the artwork and
ideas behind it. I am fascinated by the complexities
of life and my subjects and I express this through my
art. I therefore nd the choice of combining different
media, elements, textures, shapes etc. an appropriate
extension of these complexities. I just love how these
combinations add more layers to the meaning and the
visual adventure.
5) On the Jurell website (http://www.jurell.com/en/
konst/it-all-boils-down-single-word), Torsten Jurell
describes your pieces as a metaphoric representation
of current events or situations. Was that the case with
The Dream II? What does it mean? What does it rep-
resent?
This image was inspired by a newspaper photograph
of one of my most favourite artists, Max Neumann, a
painter from Berlin, walking in front of one of his huge
paintings. I love the image and used some elements
from it as a starting point for this work. It then took on
its own life, as my art usually does.
The more I worked on it, it kept on reminding me of the
ancient tradition of rock painting by shamans. Which
are believed to have been painted images of great
hunting successes. Through these, they gave the idea
a concrete shape and thus made it real and the next
hunt would be successful because they imagined it,
put it into a picture, named it and then created the
reality.
I would like to share a concept I have been extensively
thinking about: does an image or any physical expres-
sion from a person hold much more spiritual power
than we can imagine? Does a rain dance maybe really
inuence the weather because of the intention and en-
ergy set free? Are we creating our own reality by what
we are expressing?
In my mind this work also has a subtitle: Advent of
the Grafti Man. Besides the spiritual idea behind it, I
thought it was also a humorous link to the modern day
grafti culture (which I am also a great fan of). Consid-
ering the age-old rock-painting tradition, the modern
and civilised man is not so much different we still
love to make marks on our walls.
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The Namibia Consumer Protection Group welcomes number por-tability for ushering in greater freedom of choice, spurring com-
petition and encouraging technological innovation in the telecom-
munications industry.
Local Number Portability (LNP) removes barriers to switching net-
works and provides consumers with a greater choice of telecom-
munication service providers and the convenience of keeping their
existing numbers. It really benets the ratepayer; the consumer.
Whether they have switched mobile telecommunications serviceproviders or not, customers have already started reaping the ben-
ets of lower prices as well as attractive packages offered by wire-
less carriers as inducements to keep customers from switching.
LNP is, according to web-based encyclopaedias, the ability to
transfer either an existing xed-line or mobile telephone number
assigned by a local exchange carrier (LEC) and reassigning it to
another carrier.
Most countries around the world have opened their telecommunica-
tions markets to competition. This has accelerated the deployment
of telecommunications services more quickly and cost-effectively
than past monopolies.
Some of these liberalisation efforts are being driven by regulations
that call for number portability. For example, the European Union
(EU) Universal Service and Users Rights Directive (2002/22/EC),
Article 30 effective since July 2003 imposes on all EU member
states the following obligations:
Member states shall ensure that all subscribers of pub
licly available telephone services, including mobile
services, who so request, can retain their number(s)
independently of the undertaking providing the service;
In the case of geographic numbers, at a specic
location; and
In the case of non-geographic numbers, at any location.
As consumers, we must have the choice of which service provider
we want to use. Most cellular and telephone subscribers however
do not wish to lose their present number and therefore stay with
the present provider. One of the toughest responsibilities facing the
regulators in the Namibian telecom markets involves modernising
our national numbering policies, numbering plans, and dialling
plans.
We have to establish a numbering policy that provides a legal, leg-
islative, and regulatory basis for competition. Then, our regulator
must decide on numbering and dialling schemes, services, tech-
nologies, and billing and tariff methods that support its chosen
numbering policy.
Lastly, it must also establish a fair, neutral ofce for numberingadministration. I have heard the argument of the costs of imple-
menting such a system this however is always only the argument
of the company with the biggest client base.
As part of a consumer education action, the Namibia Consumer
Protection Group (NCPG) has posted the issue of number portabil-
ity on the web pages of all three mobile service providers, namely:
MTC:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/MTC-Namibia/
Switch (Telecom): http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=11597
5076023&topic=14590
Leo - could not nd a postings page so sent an email.
Please follow the discussion, participate. Let us nd out what these
large corporates do when a person on the street has something to
say? We will follow-up on this issue next month to see what you
and the telecom companies have to say on the issue.
Milton Louw is the founder of the Namibia Consumer Protection
Group. The NCPG is active on the streets and has a presence on
the Internet.
Keep your numberchange your
network
E-mail: [email protected]
e d i t o r i a l
By Milton Louw
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The picture you see here looks like strawberry Soft Serve
ice cream doesnt it? Well looks can be deceiving. This
is nothing other than chicken. Chicken that has been me-
chanically separated.
Have you ever wondered why your chicken products taste
the way they do? What ingredients they have muddled up
to produce that tasty Vienna, chicken burger, and meat pie
sausages?
Mechanical separation is a process which creates a paste-
like meat product. This is produced by forcing beef, pork,turkey or chicken bones with attached meat tissue, under
high pressure, through a sieve or similar device to separate
the bones from the meat tissue.
This process is done by machines and not humans. This
method is also referred to as advanced meat recovery.
This process has been in use since the 1960s. The separa-
tion of chicken mechanically is a means for meat proces-
sors to make greater prots from chicken, turkey, pigs and
cows by scraping the bones 100% clean of meat.
The end result of this process gives you a product used inburger meat, hot dogs, Vienna sausage and polony. Hot
dogs and similar products also usually contain a high
amount of extenders and llers such as breadcrumbs, our
and starches, and up to 25% water.
The regulation in many countries on food labelling has
been voluntary and states that all the information on food
labels must be true and not misleading or deceptive. The
Canadian Food and Drug Acts published on January 1,
2003 for instance, states that it is mandatory to label food
products and to update all nutrient content claims when
the need arises. Additional regulations stipulate that hotdogs, for instance, can only contain 20% of mechanically
separated pork.
Namibia has not had aggressive legislation in place to
deal with food security since 1990. It was only recently,
in 2006, that experts from the Namibian Government, the
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and
Product Labelling
stakeholders in the agriculture and trade industries met to
draft a Food Safety Bill which was to replace a law dating
back to 1919 as well as the Public Health Proclamation of
1920 of South Africa, under which the Namibian territory
fell until Independence in 1990.
The signicance of labelling is to provide the consumer
with information that they can use to make intelligent
choices about what foods to buy and eat. Often we arebombarded with information that is confusing and not ac-
curate.
According to a UK-based food standards agency Food
authenticity is all about whether a food matches its de-
scription. If food is misdescribed, not only is the consum-
er being deceived, but it can also create unfair competition
with the honest manufacturer or trader. The description of
food refers to the information given in relation to its name,
its ingredients, its origin, and the processes undergone.
If our government cares for us as consumers, why are foodproducts in our country not labelled as mechanically
separated to inform Namibian consumers and help us to
make healthy choices on what food to buy and what not?This graph shows the huge amount of mechanicaly separated poultry imported by just one company
into south africa, rainbow chicken farms. 81 tons of mechanicaly separated chicken in 2009 alone.
i n t e r n a t i o n a l
By Kaarina Nairenge
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NAMIBIAS Welwitschias stand a better chance to
record a win at their fourth IRB Rugby World Cup
tournament set for New Zealand next year.
The Namibians have never won a match in all their
previous appearances and can be close to record-
ing their rst victory at the world showpiece, judging
from their improved performances over the past two
seasons.
The side has put up competitive challenges in the
South African Airlines (SAA) Vodacom Cup earlier
this season and that against formidable South Afri-
can franchise sides. They also won the International
Rugby Board (IRB) Nations Cup this year.
Winning the Nations Cup was boosted by the front-
running Vodacom Cup which virtually exposed most
of the players to the tactical and technical scenarios
of the game at the highest level. The Namibian side
won several matches in that competition, especially
on home soil and it improved their performance and
game skills overall.
Their sense of urgency in getting over the advan-
tage line and with coach, Johan Diergaardt, employ-
ing a speedy back-line, made a huge difference for
the Namibians. As a result, this made them square
up equally against the skilful South Africans from the
different sides who possessed good ball handling
skills, sleek back-line moves and solid front rowers
who could dominate play upfront.
Namibia relied heavily on the experience of their
front-rowers led by the likes of Nico Esterhuizen,
Jane du Toit, Johnny Redelinghuis, Jacque Niewen-
huizen and Pieter-Jan van Lill. The back-line consist-
ed of many younger players who possess the pace
and were rather credible in their defensive work too.
Some of these players who set the stadiums on re
with their blistering pace included winger, Crysander
Botha, full-back, Jacky Bock, Eugene Jantjies and
the de La Harpe brothers, Daryl and Ryaan.
But during the IRB Nations Cup, the man who set
the tongues wagging was team captain and anker
Jacques Burger, who is currently hot property in the
European leagues. That same momentum shortly
Points a must for Namibian rugby at World CupBy Staff Reporter
s p o r t s
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after the Vodacom Cup was carried over to the Na-
tions Cup which pitted Namibia against its African
counterparts which included countries such as Mo-
rocco, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
All were credible contenders for the title and Na-
mibia were the outsiders, but came to the fore withtheir blistering performances which eventually car-
ried through to the last match that secured them the
trophy.
PREPARATIONS
At this stage, the team is looking forward to attract-
ing major rugby playing nations to strengthen vari-
ous aspects of their game. Media reports recently
suggested that the Namibians are set to face Spain
and Portugal as part of their preparations, where
they will also once again compete in the VodacomCup just to further sharpen their skills before going
to the New Zealand rugby battle elds.
According to Diergaardt, who has been at the helm
for just over two years now, the team aims to en-
gage more stronger nations ahead of the World Cup
as it will give them a competitive edge and will put
them on par with the other contenders at that level.
That will in fact be right the choice by Diergaardt,
a former Western Suburbs player and ofcial, as it
will empower his players with the knowledge of what
to expect from the rigid and uncompromising worldrugby powerhouses.
Namibia is also paired with their neighbours, South
Africa, two-time World Cup champions, and it will not
be easy for them to pass that hurdle with a relatively
lower score-line if they do not already face stronger
nations now.
Namibia initially must look at countries such as
France, Italy, Argentina, Scotland and Wales to get
their house in order before the World Cup, but the
costly nature of attracting these countries remains a
challenge for the small local Namibia Rugby Union
(NRU). With the Government intending to give them
a push just before the World Cup and their main
sponsor, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC)
also behind them with rather limited funding, the
team will nd it a bit difcult to lure these rugby play-
ing nations to improve and further hone their com-petitive skills.
TRIES AND POINTS
Namibia has never won a match at any of the previ -
ous three World Cup tournaments they competed in,
but have managed to score tries, especially at the
last one in 2007 won by South Africa on European
soil.
This time around, the team will be expected to im-
prove dramatically in the areas of getting over theadvantage line and landing those elusive and rather
hard-to-get tries, while they will also have an im-
proved kicking record from any resulting penalties.
Namibia is generally a passionate unit on the eld of
play and can take the game to the opposition if given
that chance, but has a knack for conceding points
easily or when under immense pressure.
The pack of players who do duty upfront also know
very well that a clean ball can set-off their quick-re
back-line and they too work tirelessly to emit such
a ball to the scrum-half. The secret for the Namib-ians to score tries lies in their youthful back-line of
players, but the forwards must also be wide-awake
as they can also nd themselves in try-scoring posi-
tions.
This time, the Welwitschias will not come back home
empty handed, but will score a handful of tries and
they will put slot through those valuable penalty
shots, while they will also make better use of the ball
in their possession. They will also be more result-
oriented and much more solid in defence and their
attack will be more organised and potent.
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