This is Namibia, NOT South Africa!
Posted 24th May 2008 at 04:48 PM by Oneword
Updated 24th May 2008 at 05:43 PM by Oneword (editing, spelling)
Updated 24th May 2008 at 05:43 PM by Oneword (editing, spelling)
I believe in serendipity, that is the luck in making unexpected discoveries.
Maybe I should rather use the term “synchronicity” for what I want to write about.
Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner, but which are causally un-related.
The first of these experiences went by without much bother. It was when my family and I were at the Maerua Mall shopping centre (in Windhoek) some time ago and I saw a certain shop advertising special offers for “Freedom Day”, a South African public holiday.
But this stuck in my mind.
It was, of course, the Namibian branch of a South African chain store.
In the meantime, South Africa erupted with xenophobia and, of course, people here in Windhoek also started asking questions. We do, after all, also have a fair number of non-Namibians from surrounding countries living here.
“Could that happen here?” they all wanted to know. Answer: I don't know. People are funny beings and one never knows what could trigger such a response.
We are all aware that Namibia has an unemployment figure somewhere between 30 – 40% (depending on which political party's lies you believe) and I assume if hundreds and thousands of people from elsewhere come to Namibia and took the bread out of the mouth of Namibians, a spark might be generated – especially if these foreigners were better qualified and not so choosy as to which type of work they were being offered.
In other words, a qualified teacher from XYZ may, for instance, not hesitate to sell funeral policies or even perform hard, physical labour (which some Namibians are known to shun).
If enough “foreigners” did just that while our home-grown labour market continued to languish, who knows what could happen........
Today (Saturday, 24 May – one day before Africa Day) we were in the centre of town in a shopping centre in a square and lo! and behold, I saw another shop advertising something quite illogical and nonsensical in Namibia: Something about “it's raining and pouring and the old man is snoring”. Once again, the Namibian branch of an SA chain – who, by the way, claim that one is @ home there.
Now, unless Global Warming and Climate Change have insidiously made rapid changes to Namibian seasons, this IS NOT our rainy season! It may be so in the Cape for all I care, or even in Gauteng, but for all practical purposes Namibia does not get winter rain (if we do it is very rare and not all that much).
Our rainy season (when we get rain) usually falls between November to April (The Shebeen has the last rainfall figures for 15 April). (Also see Namibia Weather Network)
A little further down the road in another shopping centre close by, there is a shop where I have been fortunate to find several CDs of “The X-Files”. Now these I have bought one by one (and sometimes many more than one) until there were no more.
Now, my common sense tells me if seasons 1 to 5 are available and there have been 9 seasons so far (in the USA), the other seasons would also be available.
But, no, they are not!
And why not?
Because the main office in SA has not sent any more! (yes, again a chain store from our neighbour – this time crusading for cash).
Upon my reasonable question whether the rest could be ordered I received the reply that they did not order: SA sent what they wanted to send!
You see what I am getting at?
While I am very glad we have these stores, they seem to be mainly interested in foisting off their wares upon us and repatriating the money asap.
Once again Customer Care is totally forgotten and does not seem to play a role.
The very fact that they are in an independent, sovereign country, quite distinctly different from their own, does not seem to bother them at all.
What is good for SA is good for Namibia, hey? If SA sneezes, Namibia catches a cold,hey?
And no! Not all stores are like that!
There are several where the customer does feel like a king and gets good, better and excellent service – but these are few and far between.
I just deeply resent the fact that for some of them I do not count; that Namibia does not count! For all they care I might as well be another SAFA (South African).
I am not! I am Namibian and damn proud of it!
Check you, OK, while I am off to do some picking and paying ........
Maybe I should rather use the term “synchronicity” for what I want to write about.
Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner, but which are causally un-related.
The first of these experiences went by without much bother. It was when my family and I were at the Maerua Mall shopping centre (in Windhoek) some time ago and I saw a certain shop advertising special offers for “Freedom Day”, a South African public holiday.
But this stuck in my mind.
It was, of course, the Namibian branch of a South African chain store.
In the meantime, South Africa erupted with xenophobia and, of course, people here in Windhoek also started asking questions. We do, after all, also have a fair number of non-Namibians from surrounding countries living here.
“Could that happen here?” they all wanted to know. Answer: I don't know. People are funny beings and one never knows what could trigger such a response.
We are all aware that Namibia has an unemployment figure somewhere between 30 – 40% (depending on which political party's lies you believe) and I assume if hundreds and thousands of people from elsewhere come to Namibia and took the bread out of the mouth of Namibians, a spark might be generated – especially if these foreigners were better qualified and not so choosy as to which type of work they were being offered.
In other words, a qualified teacher from XYZ may, for instance, not hesitate to sell funeral policies or even perform hard, physical labour (which some Namibians are known to shun).
If enough “foreigners” did just that while our home-grown labour market continued to languish, who knows what could happen........
Today (Saturday, 24 May – one day before Africa Day) we were in the centre of town in a shopping centre in a square and lo! and behold, I saw another shop advertising something quite illogical and nonsensical in Namibia: Something about “it's raining and pouring and the old man is snoring”. Once again, the Namibian branch of an SA chain – who, by the way, claim that one is @ home there.
Now, unless Global Warming and Climate Change have insidiously made rapid changes to Namibian seasons, this IS NOT our rainy season! It may be so in the Cape for all I care, or even in Gauteng, but for all practical purposes Namibia does not get winter rain (if we do it is very rare and not all that much).
Our rainy season (when we get rain) usually falls between November to April (The Shebeen has the last rainfall figures for 15 April). (Also see Namibia Weather Network)
A little further down the road in another shopping centre close by, there is a shop where I have been fortunate to find several CDs of “The X-Files”. Now these I have bought one by one (and sometimes many more than one) until there were no more.
Now, my common sense tells me if seasons 1 to 5 are available and there have been 9 seasons so far (in the USA), the other seasons would also be available.
But, no, they are not!
And why not?
Because the main office in SA has not sent any more! (yes, again a chain store from our neighbour – this time crusading for cash).
Upon my reasonable question whether the rest could be ordered I received the reply that they did not order: SA sent what they wanted to send!
You see what I am getting at?
While I am very glad we have these stores, they seem to be mainly interested in foisting off their wares upon us and repatriating the money asap.
Once again Customer Care is totally forgotten and does not seem to play a role.
The very fact that they are in an independent, sovereign country, quite distinctly different from their own, does not seem to bother them at all.
What is good for SA is good for Namibia, hey? If SA sneezes, Namibia catches a cold,hey?
And no! Not all stores are like that!
There are several where the customer does feel like a king and gets good, better and excellent service – but these are few and far between.
I just deeply resent the fact that for some of them I do not count; that Namibia does not count! For all they care I might as well be another SAFA (South African).
I am not! I am Namibian and damn proud of it!
Check you, OK, while I am off to do some picking and paying ........
Total Comments 7
Comments
-
Agree with everything you say, Oneword. South African companies will stop thinking we are just another SAFA if we as consumers get organised and show/tell them that we won't stand for this sort of business conduct. At some stage I think we had something close to a Consumer Council, but they are very quiet these days. As it is, Namibian consumers are woefully disorganised and don't seem to have any collective bargaining power. Will it change if their bottom line is affected because of some sort of consumer boycott?Posted 27th May 2008 at 09:51 AM by Dude
-
Thanks, Dude. Bottomline .... not really. It was worked out some time again that the city of Port Elizabeth basically had the same sort of "GDP" for SA as Namibia does. That, if I remember correctly, is way less than 7 %.Posted 27th May 2008 at 01:51 PM by Oneword -
Namibian pride ... wow
Namibians can be very naive or is it narrow-minded?
Namibia can not provide food from its soil for the mere 2 million inhabitants, not to mention jobs, still you have these arrrrrrrogant disilussioned fools thinking they are smart. What a pity, maybe one day they will wake up from the deep winter sleep to discover, Namibia need more then only South Africa to stay alive.
Maybe one day they will discover that politics are only for a hand few picked one's and that cross border trade means blessings, jobs, development and to move away from tunnel vision, to be part of the global picture.
In the mean time, dream on and live your life to the fullest in your utopia or in Plato's Republic, not to mention Francis Bacon's New Atlantis.
Posted 12th June 2008 at 12:52 PM by mindfactory - Mindfactory,
When I look at your avatar (the picture next to your contributions) it becomes evident to me that you must be the guy right at the top of this part of the circuit-training exercise! Why? Because you are surely the world champion in mental athletics! Your jumping to conclusions puts you in a class completely on its own.
Were you ever to read the blog entry with an open mind, you would discover very quickly that I am not against South African companies being in Namibia - after all, some 80% of what we consume comes from that country.
What I am against - and I think I have stated that quite clearly and unambiguously - is the fact that they (the South African chain stores) do not care to distinguish between the SA stores and their stores in other countries in their advertising.
And yes, THAT does hurt my national pride.
Referring to your "Utopia" by (Thomas More in 1519), maybe YOU should change your name to Raphael Hythloday ... I, by the way do not believe in a perfect world.
Plato's "The Republic" (circa 360BCE) and Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis" (1626) also discuss and try to "utopia".
PS. You see ANYONE can Google and Wiki!Posted 14th June 2008 at 08:04 PM by Oneword
Updated 14th June 2008 at 08:05 PM by Oneword (spelling) - Wait till you get a walmart!Posted 20th June 2008 at 12:43 AM by sandwich
- Stone aged is not he word ... you agree more the 80% what namibians consume comes from South Africa ... yet you are p*ssed off by advertisements ... do me a favour ... lobby to boycot all products from South Africa and see where you'll be after one week of supplies stoped from entering namibian borders.
Beggars can not be choosers, start running to the Chinese for help ... you people will never wake up. Every fault in namibia, is as a result of apartheid South Africa. After 18 years of political independence, namibia is still the baby with the wet pants, who blames others for her own mistakes. What a shame.
Grow up for once and get real.Posted 23rd June 2008 at 07:35 AM by mindfactory - Please excuse my ignorance on this matter. However, I am currently living in the United States and have lived there all my life. I find the delima facing Namibia and other African countries quite trpubling. I believe the wealth and resources of a nation must first be used to fulfill the needs of the people of that nation. There appears to be more than enough natural resources to supply such needs for the Nabimibian people. Yet it appears after 18 years of independence, the majority of the wealth is still in the hands of former colonialist. as a Black person I see the same situation in the United states. Can someone please explain what the issues are to me. I am serious and sincere in my concerns.Posted 3rd August 2008 at 09:10 PM by msjustme2
Total Trackbacks 0
