WINDHOEK - National Council Swapo Member of Parliament, Okankolo Constituency Councillor, Hans Nambondi, has urged the business fraternity to come up with something else other than the annual ‘Black Friday’ event. 

In the same vein, the councillor implored members of the society to stop flocking to the shops on the so-called ‘Black Friday’, saying it is a disturbance to the consciousness of the black brothers and sisters, who find themselves in the United States and Europe, as a result of the black slave trade.

‘Black Friday’ has its origins in the sale of black slaves in the historical American South after Thanksgiving.

In Namibia, customers have wound up queuing at various stores before midnight to take advantage of huge discounts on goods ranging from clothing to electrical goods, whereby chaos would normally erupt at some stores. 

“We need more coverage and more content of historical events and more interviews with the heroes and heroines of our liberation struggle on the role they played for our country’s independence. Some people in our society, especially business people, are ignorant of historical events such as the so-called ‘Black Friday’ that is celebrated here every year,” he reacted. 

He reasoned this celebration is, therefore, one of the many reasons the ministry is not doing more to educate the society based on factual historical events.

“Fellow Namibians, for your information, Black Friday was supposed to be known by every African due to its origin linked to the slave trade and auctioning of the blacks. The colonial masters did a lot of inhuman treatment to our forefathers by branding them like animals, auctioning them and killing them. How can we be so blind to celebrate such a dreadful event?” he questioned.

He believes this is because of the insufficient information they have on the origin of the day. 

Therefore, he called on the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) to continue educating the public, adding that otherwise in future Namibians may find themselves celebrating events such as the Cassinga massacre, Oshakati massacre or any equivalent event.

Hence, he implored MICT to improve on the contents of the films they show to the local communities. 

MICT has a print Media Affairs programme aimed at producing and disseminating information to the public through government publications and media. 

The programme also aims to educate and inform the public on government programmes, projects, policies and activities in order to create a knowledge-based society. 

Further, the ministry also has an Audio Visual Media and Copyright Service programme whose purpose is to market Namibia as a preferred film destination and provide access to information through multi-media content or platforms. 

It aims to attract investment into the film industry and to develop the local film industry for growth and contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

It also aims to ensure the production and dissemination of relevant content towards a knowledge-based society, as well as to ensure copyright compliance to combat piracy.

However, Nambondi said the ministry mostly shows out-dated films and when councillors announce that the officials from the ministry are coming to engage the community by showing these films, the turn up is always low due to the fact that the content is either repeated or out-dated.

The government allocated N$321 million to MICT for the 2019/20 financial year.

“We all know that the amount allocated to this ministry is not enough compared to the functions the ministry is required to perform. Due to the little amount the ministry was allocated every financial year, it ended carrying out fewer activities,” he debated. Further, he noted there are still some parts of the country whereby radio reception is very poor. 

As a result, Nambondi said rural communities are not enjoying some of the radio programmes due to poor frequency coverage.

He explained that this year, Namibia finds itself in a severe drought and communities were not alerted on time before the situation got worse.
According to him, MICT should embark upon information dissemination to educate the society on historical and national events.