Kambwa exposes retail robbery

Prominent northern businessman David 'Kambwa' Sheehama has made startling allegations, including that some foreign businesses are selling Namibians inferior products, repackaged to appear genuine, and that customers are also buying items with false litre and metre amounts indicated.

Sheehama, who is the owner of building material retailer Kambwa Trading, is backed by the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) northern branch, which is calling for the speedy finalisation of the Consumer Protection Act, in order to promote a fair, accessible and sustainable marketplace for consumer products and services.

The legislation, which has been in the pipeline for many years, will also establish national norms and standards to ensure adequate consumer protection and give guidelines for improved standards of consumer information that will prohibit unfair marketing or other unfair business practices, while also encouraging responsible consumer behaviour and the establishment of the National Consumer Commission. Sheehama said the unscrupulous activities being perpetrated against Namibian customers was happening under the noses of the Namibia Standard Institute (NSI) and the Namibia Competition Commission (NaCC). “For example, they (foreign business owners) indicate the diamond mesh fencing is 50 metres, but once the customer buys it they will find it is only 45 metres or the paint container is indicated as a 25-litre container, but there is only 20 litres of paint in. Sometimes they also repackage inferior products into genuine product packages and make them cheaper.”



According to Kambwa these traders are creating unfair competition by making their products cheaper to attract more customers, but at the same time they are not supplying what the customer thinks they are buying.

He said industry watchdogs are not doing anything, even if such unethical business practices and unethical traders are reported.

“This situation is being promoted by a lack of product quality and quantity assessment by the responsible institutions. These institutions are supposed to be visiting business places and investigating product authenticity,” he said.

NCCI northern branch chairperson Tomas Koneka Iindji told Namibian Sun Sheehama's complaints are genuine and that a number of related grievances had been reported over the years.

He said they had informed the Namibia Trade Forum, which drives the Namibia Retail Sector Charter (NRSC) that lays out principles and targets ensuring greater access for local products, as well as the NSI and the NaCC.

“At the NCCI we believe the complaints are legitimate. We have been advocating for business protection to prevent unethical business practices.

“These issues of providing wrong products to consumers are not good because at the end it is the consumer that suffers.

“As a chamber we are also calling on authorities to speed up the process leading up to the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act, as this will empower consumers to lodge complaints about a service provider, while promoting ethical business practices,” Iindji said.

He said consumer protection covers a wide range of issues, including product liability, privacy rights, unfair business practices, fraud, misrepresentation and other consumer/business interactions.

“This Act is pivotal for our development agenda in many ways. Among other things, the law will force service providers to explain their products and services better and vehemently protect the interests of the consumer.

“Consumer protection and consumer advocacy will bring the intentions of the company and products together with the necessity of customers and the market that they are in. Furthermore, consumer protection requires that companies provide detailed information about their products,” Iindji said.

He said this will not only apply to foreign traders, but also to local retailers.

“This law will also define which other bodies are tasked with covering specific consumer issues. It is hoped that the Act will also look at how consumers are represented and how the government will assist these consumer representative bodies.”

Iindji said the NCCI is encouraging all northern retail operators to join the NRCS as a signatories.

He said this is a tremendous opportunity to influence policy, to promote economic development and to support the Growth at Home strategy.

“The objective of the charter is to facilitate locally produced goods to find their way onto the shelves of our retail outlets. We need their visible support and active participation in this. Retailers who support government are fine and there are plenty of good examples. Those who don't are expected to cooperate.”

Iindji said greater access for locally produced goods into the retail market enables domestic economic growth, increases employment creation and the capacity creation of Namibian producers, while significantly boosting the economy.

“As consumer spending continues to increase in Namibia, we need to make sure that our retailers are capable of meeting this rise, so that these consumers don't look outside our borders for products and services. As members of the chamber leadership, we should all agree to be signatories to this charter, if you are dealing with retail operations.”

NSI spokesperson Joanette Eises said the NSI would respond in more detail later in the week.

“As per our telephonic discussion, the NSI will provide you with a response during the course of the week. There are a number of role players in quality and compliance of products and therefore I would further suggest you get in touch with the town/council to get more information on the compliance of quality of products.”

The NaCC did not provide comments to Namibian Sun at the time of going to print.