We have nothing more to lose: shebeeners

DESPITE cold winter evenings and a lack of ablution facilities, about 60 shebeen protesters last night spent their fifth night sleeping in front of Parliament in the capital.

Defying a request by President Hifikepunye Pohamba on Saturday that they return home while Government deliberates on their dilemma, the protesters, mostly from the northern regions, say they have to keep the pressure on Government. “We’re risking our health, there are no toilets, no showers.I’m even afraid I might get polio,” says Moses Amukoto, whose unlicensed shebeen Cinq Cinq (five five in French) in Omuthiya village was recently shut down by Police.”But this is important.We want only one answer,” a smiling Amukoto said.That one answer, he says, is that he and his fellow protesters can return to open the doors to their banned informal businesses.”We know you’re discussing the law now.We’re just saying stop Police action against us while this is being done,” he said yesterday to the approval of four others standing around him.On Thursday, hundreds of shebeen operators marched through Windhoek to Parliament to deliver a petition to the Speaker of the National Assembly.It was their third petition in a month – the first two were delivered to President Pohamba earlier.While most of the protesters have since returned to their homes across the country, Namibian Shebeens Association (Nasa) President Veripi Kandenge says those who remain feel they have nothing more to lose.”Are you telling these people to go home to their closed shebeens? This is a bread and butter issue,” he said yesterday morning, echoing Amukoto’s statement five minutes earlier that if shebeens are to close, so should schools.”Because how will we afford to keep our children in school?” Amukoto had said.The group has received bread, tea and coffee from individuals, while those with family living around Windhoek have been able to go there to take a bath, they say.Late yesterday afternoon, Kandenge asked the group to pick up cold drink cans which they had set up in a long row to separate their living space from the road next to it.The demonstrators say they were forced to do this as some young people driving past at the weekend had harassed them, threatened to run over them and verbally abused them.Meanwhile, opposition parties met with President Pohamba yesterday morning at his request.They expressed their views on the 1998 Liquor Act, which since its implementation early this year has caused the closure of unlicensed shebeens and sparked protests across the country.Objections to the implementation of the Act range from some shebeen owners claiming the law wasn’t properly explained to them (it was passed in 1998), to arguments that getting a licence was too costly.The Act stipulates that for a shebeen to qualify for licensing, it needs to have separate toilets for men and women, and that these toilets should not have to be accessed through a dwelling area.It further states that the shebeen should have a sink or hand wash basin with running water, or alternatively “a suitable receptacle for storing clean water with a tight-fitting lid”.Many shebeen operators and some opposition parties believe that these requirements “discriminate” against poor people from especially rural areas, for whom they say running water is often a luxury.Speaking to The Namibian after their meeting with Pohamba, Congress of Democrats (CoD) President Ben Ulenga said his party had repeated a request they made last week that Police action be suspended for two years while Government reviews the Liquor Act.Pohamba apparently told opposition parties that Government would have to wait until after Parliament has discussed the Act before it could act on the plight of shebeen operators.Parliament is today expected to start discussing a motion on the issue by DTA MP Phillemon Moongo.Ulenga said that in terms of the Liquor Act, a section named Schedule Four dealing with the controversial shebeens could be amended by the Minister of Trade and Industry.This included the possibility of suspending Police action, he said.Following the initial petition from protesters, the President set up an inter-ministerial committee that has met several times, and is expected to make recommendations to Parliament on the legal and social aspects of the Act.”We’re risking our health, there are no toilets, no showers.I’m even afraid I might get polio,” says Moses Amukoto, whose unlicensed shebeen Cinq Cinq (five five in French) in Omuthiya village was recently shut down by Police.”But this is important.We want only one answer,” a smiling Amukoto said.That one answer, he says, is that he and his fellow protesters can return to open the doors to their banned informal businesses.”We know you’re discussing the law now.We’re just saying stop Police action against us while this is being done,” he said yesterday to the approval of four others standing around him.On Thursday, hundreds of shebeen operators marched through Windhoek to Parliament to deliver a petition to the Speaker of the National Assembly.It was their third petition in a month – the first two were delivered to President Pohamba earlier.While most of the protesters have since returned to their homes across the country, Namibian Shebeens Association (Nasa) President Veripi Kandenge says those who remain feel they have nothing more to lose.”Are you telling these people to go home to their closed shebeens? This is a bread and butter issue,” he said yesterday morning, echoing Amukoto’s statement five minutes earlier that if shebeens are to close, so should schools.”Because how will we afford to keep our children in school?” Amukoto had said.The group has received bread, tea and coffee from individuals, while those with family living around Windhoek have been able to go there to take a bath, they say.Late yesterday afternoon, Kandenge asked the group to pick up cold drink cans which they had set up in a long row to separate their living space from the road next to it.The demonstrators say they were forced to do this as some young people driving past at the weekend had harassed them, threatened to run over them and verbally abused them.Meanwhile, opposition parties met with President Pohamba yesterday morning at his request.They expressed their views on the 1998 Liquor Act, which since its implementation early this year has caused the closure of unlicensed shebeens and sparked protests across the country.Objections to the implementation of the Act range from some shebeen owners claiming the law wasn’t properly explained to them (it was passed in 1998), to arguments that getting a licence was too costly.The Act stipulates that for a shebeen to qualify for licensing, it needs to have separate toilets for men and women, and that these toilets should not have to be accessed through a dwelling area.It further states that the shebeen should have a sink or hand wash basin with running water, or alternatively “a suitable receptacle for storing clean water with a tight-fitting lid”.Many shebeen operators and some opposition parties believe that these requirements “discriminate” against poor people from especially rural areas, for whom they say running water is often a luxury.Speaking to The Namibian after their meeting with Pohamba, Congress of Democrats (CoD) President Ben Ulenga said his party had repeated a request they made last week that Police action be suspended for two years while Government reviews the Liquor Act.Pohamba apparently told opposition parties that Government would have to wait until after Parliament has discussed the Act before it could act on the plight of shebeen operators.Parliament is today expected to start discussing a motion on the issue by DTA MP Phillemon Moongo.Ulenga said that in terms of the Liquor Act, a section named Schedule Four dealing with the controversial shebeens could be amended by the Minister of Trade and Industry.This included the possibility of suspending Police action, he said.Following the initial petition from protesters, the President set up an inter-ministerial committee that has met several times, and is expected to make recommendations to Parliament on the legal and social aspects of the Act.