KATIMA MULILO – Katima Mulilo residents have been flocking to the local Namibia Fish Consumption Promotion Trust shop to buy fish, with the fish season currently closed.
However, the shop has been unable to meet the demand.
When New Era visited the shop on Monday afternoon, customers were outside the shop, frustrated, after queuing for hours, hoping to buy fish.
“I have been standing here for over two hours; no one is going in or coming out. We did not come here to buy on credit but to buy cash. However, they are telling us to wait. For how long should we wait? If they are unable to meet the demand, they should just say so. Alternatively, they should look for a bigger place to operate from,” complained a frustrated customer, Gift Masiye.
Another customer, Priscah Makabi, added it has become a norm that people have to wait long hours at the shop to buy fish, saying the shop also opens late.
“This is a continuous situation; people arrived here around 08h00 – now it is 13h00, but nothing is happening. We have other things to do; we cannot be standing here for three-four hours, waiting to buy. They should do something,” she appealed.
“This is poor service! If they are understaffed, they should employ more people. Instead, the same person is the one offloading, packaging and weighing; it becomes time-consuming. They should also stock the shop with more fish,”
added another customer Chibikubantu Yalubi.
Contacted for comment, NFCPT spokesperson De Wet Siluka admitted the shop cannot meet the local demand, which he said has increased due to the closed fishing season, which means the horse mackerel, especially the 10kgs, are now in demand.
“The only time the shop delays opening is when they are re-packing the fish. They are also understaffed because the other two staff members are on leave, and [the] office is using casual workers,” stated Siluka.
He further explained, “the other challenge is that the space we are operating from is small. However, this will be something of the past because, from 1 February, we will be moving to a new shop. We, therefore, appeal to our customers to bear with us while we address these challenges”.
They added that they have acquired an extra freezer to address the issue of demand.
“Once we move to the new shop, we will have a capacity of 48 tonnes. They just have to be patient with us,” appealed Siluka.