John Ekongo
10 July 2009
column
'Operation save the consumer okakulumbwati style'
TATEKULU (the old, old man) once said that if you wait for deliverance from oppression from anybody then continue waiting, but right now the only man that can free you is yourself.
Everybody is blowing hot air over price hikes, everyone but the consumer. We on the other hand are being taken in for any bloody increase by any soul and anything under the sun.
But first, for my non-executive tribe friends - to define the strange looking terminology up there in my title.
"Okakulumbwati means ambush". Historians have it that generals Shalli and Danger coined the word during a skirmish with our white brothers not so long ago.
Now exactly why do we need to serve the consumers in this kind of manner? Good question old mate.
Let's not beat about the bush, we are up to our necks in debt, we are under increasing pressure to work hard weekends in the name of moola, and in the process we neglect our families. Creditors are breathing with dragon and vampire breath just around the nape of our necks' hairlines, and mine.
So let's be realistic here. None of this is our fault. Somebody and something else is always screwing the consumer. If not the banks; it is the insurance blokes with their expensive power-suits by Polo Ralph Lauren, which I have so subliminally obliged to pay premiums; or it is the 24-year-old clerk at Fiscus Building who without permission always chops my money and baptises it tax.
But today my favourite is the municipality - "weet jy ne" course Town House.
Folks at Town House in Independence Avenue say that they care about our quality of life, in fact, they want to pamper us with niceties about the modern city comparable with the New Yorks, Johannesburgs and the Beijings (my second home) of this world - nothing wrong with that.
But all these things cost a lot of "Witboois", in fact, a whole lot of them. A million for calling mobiles, another six million for corporate wear/uniforms or overalls whatever that might be. Almost half a million for parties and boy journalists would be in for a treat - the list is endless.
For now, the buck needs to be passed and the consumer has to pay for all these - so usual tariffs for water, electricity and other services are hiked.
Let's have a good look. For five consecutive years, the city has hiked its tariffs since 2005.
But as for quality of life, that is debatable. Here are a couple of facts, the last major road upgrade was in 2005/6 with the construction of Robert Mugabe Bridge and Extension. Followed by Rocky Crest, nothing major in Katutura aside from a stadium, which is costly for the average citizen. City centre no single public toilet in a radius of any kilometres, the ones available at most times are toilet - tissue less, filthy and a germ haven on top of that I have to fork out N$1 each time I need to go private. Not even a single new residential project for senior citizens in the last 20 years.
I am sure that the engineers and planners at the City House have it figured out that Windhoek has grown - so has the number of cars on the road, and yet no road widening to accommodate the ever-increasing traffic. For now just parking alone is hell and you pay for it - even the very same parking spots at the municipality - they want my coins.
In the absence of such informalities, any form of transport from the city bosses would help. But again they use buses as old as the 1955 Montgomery Bus boycott. Investing in new ones is not priority despite milking us dry.
Zoo Park is not what it used to be anymore and I take it building a new city park is out of the question. City Police seem to only apprehend suspects whom they booby-trap so crime goes up. So the new budget is devoid of any human face - call it whatever it is just not meant to help the people, but if anything it is just another burden.
All the same congratulations to the unions with their initiation for a court interdict. At least they realise the value of humanity.
Like I said, "Operation Save the Consumer Okakulumbwati Style" is should be supported by all.
Sorry Ngo!
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