SOME users of the leading telecommunications company MTC Namibia on Sunday up until late yesterday complained about the confusion that came about when their phones and other electronic devices automatically switch to the old winter time.
Ministry of information permanent secretary Mbeuta Ua-Ndjarakana announced last week that there will be no winter time change on Sunday.
Several customers complained that MTC should have updated their network to ensure that the time does not change as it ended up causing confusion.
MTC however, issued a statement on their social media platforms on Sunday pointing out that it is not their problem and that it was the responsibility of people to manually change time on their own devices.
In the statement, MTC states that it is not in their control to effect the time change on devices.
“The device manufacturers set devices on auto update time zones at production stages – depending on which time zone it will operate from – and the onus is on the device manufacturers to effect these time zones on their end, following communications supplied to them by the government about time changes,” read the statement.
The statement further said it appears to be that only some android operating devices have not affected the time change, whilst IOS enabled devices have done so. “We however, wish to advise affected customers to do the following in order to correct their time: Select Johannesburg Time Zone or the GMT+2hours Central African Time. Alternatively, please restart your device or remove battery and switch on device again,” it read.
One Facebook user, Nick Preller, asked MTC if they are aware that serving the correct time and time zone to their customers forms part of security, and thereby secure and functional communications on your network.
Some Twitter users also tweeted their frustrations pointing out that the time on electronic devices, phones, laptops and decoders was not adapted accordingly.
MTC users also complained that they could not send messages and that the internet access was tripping. Ua-Ndjarakana, in a media statement issued last Thursday, said the decision not to switch to winter time came after the Namibian Time Act No. 3 of 1994 was replaced by the Namibian Time Act 2017 after national public consultations. This, according to the statement, means that the standard time of Namibia is two hours in advance of the Greenwich Mean Time.
Daylight saving time was introduced to mainly improve safety and accommodate school going children, especially those in rural and informal settlement areas who walk to and from school in the dark during winter, which exposes them to crime.
Cabinet in October 2015 authorised the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration to conduct public consultations on the Namibia Time Act of 1994, after some sectors raised concern that the time change had an adverse impact on their activities.
Tabling the bill in the National Assembly a year ago, then minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana also raised the fact that the Zambezi region was cut off completely when the rest of the country shifted to winter time. This region maintained summer time all year. Some of the concerns raised regarding the time change especially by the business sector, was that Namibia lost a lot of business as it operated outside normal business hours with the rest of the region, particularly South Africa, an important trading partner.
