Crackdown on informal bars sparks protest

A recent clampdown on Namibia's numerous unlicensed bars has been applauded by those claiming they are a source of crime and violence, but their proprietors have taken to the streets protesting they have been stripped of their only means to make a living. Demanding amendments to the Liquor Act, some 1,000 angry 'shebeen' owners marched on parliament in the capital, Windhoek, last week. "We go hungry since our shebeens were closed!" some in the crowd shouted. After handing a petition to speaker of parliament, the Namibian Shebeen Association-led demonstrators refused to disperse, demanding permission to re-open their businesses. A 50-strong group spent the weekend sleeping on the pavement outside the parliament building. "Opening a shebeen is the quickest way to earn cash every day. You buy some corrugated iron sheets and nail them to a quickly erected wooden frame and the shebeen is finished," Martha Nelumbu, a resident of Windhoek's sprawling Katutura township told IRIN. "I am a single mother and don't want to be a prostitute," Nelumbu said. "I was unemployed for several years. Now I can feed my four children and send them to school - at least I make a living selling something and not stealing things," she added. Following a meeting between Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba and a delegation of shebeen-owners, Trade and industry minister Immanuel Ngatjizeko said their petition would be presented to MPs on Tuesday "for further discussion". Shebeens in townships and informal settlements have mushroomed since new and more lenient legislation was passed in 1998 to replace the strict liquor laws of the former apartheid era. Small drinking outlets were legalised as was the sale of homemade brews like the popular 'tombo' and 'ashipembe'. However, a lengthy and complicated licence application process, involving approval from regional government liquor boards and certification from municipal authorities, led frustrated and impatient proprietors to open illegal drinking places in residential areas. While shebeens are a lucrative income source for many, others claim they bring noise, pollution, alcohol abuse, crime and domestic violence to communities. "Shebeens are disastrous to society," said human rights lawyer and chairman of the National Forum of Non-Governmental Organisations, Norman Tjombe. "We will embark on a study to show how they negatively affect families, increase poverty and destroy the social fabric," he said. Roman Catholic Priest Hermann Klein-Hitpass, who runs a project for sex workers and their children in the Katutura township, said the impact was particularly disastrous for young girls and women desperate to earn money. "I have personally witnessed girls between 13 and 15 standing in a queue at shebeens waiting for their turn [to enter] - the owners of these drinking places were warned but they don't pay attention," Klein-Hitpass said in his latest newsletter. At the coastal harbour town of Walvis Bay, only 39 out of some 400 shebeens in the Kuisebmund township operate legally. Since the government's clampdown, "the crime rate in the township has dropped considerably and it is much more quiet", Wilson Billawer, an official in the municipality's town planning department told a meeting of the Walvis Bay chamber of commerce. Veripi Kandenge, president of Namibia's shebeen association, said about 300,000 people depend on informal taverns for their livelihood. "We want to comply with the law, but until our recommendations - like making the application process smoother and speeding up the licensing process by the authorities [are met] - we want a two-year grace period". Following the introduction of the 1998 liquor law, the government allowed for a window period until 2001 for proprietors to comply, said Andrew Ndishishi, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. "At the same time we held an extensive awareness campaign - we even granted a further grace period of three years from 2003 to early this year giving all shebeen owners enough time to comply," he added. According to Ndishishi, the association of shebeen owners had several meetings with his ministry this year but "they are just impatient. We gave them a draft action plan to peruse, but they marched first to State House and then to parliament". The draft action plan entails harmonisation of municipal by-laws and health regulations to accommodate shebeens and to simplify the licence application process. But Ben Ulenga, leader of the Congress of Democrats, the largest opposition party, said the government's initiative was flawed. Complicated requirements like advertising the intention to start a shebeen in newspapers, an application fee and a professionally drawn building plan "were excluding ordinary, poor people from the opportunity to operate shebeens", he insisted. Earlier this month, an attempt by police to enforce the liquor law in the northern village of Omuthyia resulted in stone throwing by angry crowds. Three officers were injured and an arrested shebeen owner was forcibly freed. Safety and security minister Peter Tsheehama told MPs last week that the police had to use teargas and rubber bullets to control the crowd. "Among the instigators were two soldiers of the Namibia Defence Force and a police officer, and all three were arrested," Tsheehama said.