Winter and summer time in parliament today
Home affairs minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana will table a bill today that stipulates whether Namibia will stick with different time zones in winter and summer.
She announced this in the National Assembly last week.
For years business owners and members of the public have complained about the twice-yearly time changes, arguing that they promote unproductivity.
Many Namibians who make use of taxis and buses to and from work have also said that during winter it gets dark very early, making them vulnerable to robbery and other crimes while walking home.
In 2015 the government announced that it would hold public consultations on whether to do away with winter time.
Very little is known about the outcome of these consultations, but a number of towns have voted in favour of retaining winter time. The ministry has remained tight-lipped about the possible outcome of the consultations and the bill.
Winter time is not applicable to the Zambezi Region, which means that for five months of the year there are two time zones in Namibia. In winter the rest of the country is an hour behind the Zambezi Region.
In accordance with the Namibian Time Act of 1994, Namibia enters summer time at 02:00 on the first Sunday in September, and switches to winter time, one hour back, at 02:00 on the first Sunday of April.
The debate in the National Assembly was started by former DTA member of parliament Anna Frank in 1992.
Shortly afterwards, the National Assembly unanimously adopted two motions supporting a time change in principle.
Frank took issue with the fact that children had to go to school in the dark during winter. She said that was unsafe, as children could get raped on their way to school.
The following year the late Nangolo Ithete, who then served as deputy home affairs minister, said that in the past Namibia had been forced to use the same time zone as South Africa.
JEMIMA BEUKES
She announced this in the National Assembly last week.
For years business owners and members of the public have complained about the twice-yearly time changes, arguing that they promote unproductivity.
Many Namibians who make use of taxis and buses to and from work have also said that during winter it gets dark very early, making them vulnerable to robbery and other crimes while walking home.
In 2015 the government announced that it would hold public consultations on whether to do away with winter time.
Very little is known about the outcome of these consultations, but a number of towns have voted in favour of retaining winter time. The ministry has remained tight-lipped about the possible outcome of the consultations and the bill.
Winter time is not applicable to the Zambezi Region, which means that for five months of the year there are two time zones in Namibia. In winter the rest of the country is an hour behind the Zambezi Region.
In accordance with the Namibian Time Act of 1994, Namibia enters summer time at 02:00 on the first Sunday in September, and switches to winter time, one hour back, at 02:00 on the first Sunday of April.
The debate in the National Assembly was started by former DTA member of parliament Anna Frank in 1992.
Shortly afterwards, the National Assembly unanimously adopted two motions supporting a time change in principle.
Frank took issue with the fact that children had to go to school in the dark during winter. She said that was unsafe, as children could get raped on their way to school.
The following year the late Nangolo Ithete, who then served as deputy home affairs minister, said that in the past Namibia had been forced to use the same time zone as South Africa.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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Namibian Sun
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