Bar Owner Reacts To Shutdown

FOR the past 16 or so years, I have made it my mission to protect the Namibian consumers, only to find myself getting no protection.

As so many people know, for the past years I have been in the hospitality trade. Almost two years ago, I opened a bar called Sparks next to the Royal Hotel.Since this part of Windhoek is know for its prostitution, I soon learnt what I was in for running a bar in this area.The first months of trading we, on an almost daily basis, had to contact Nampol to lock up the prostitutes and other troublemakers from my bar.Daily fights took place whenever a new face entered the bar as to who would claim the man for the night, and most certainly not without risk, since most of the men after some time were found to be robbed of their wallets and/or cell phones.Having a bar seems to attract many people loitering on the streets in front of the complex and sometimes I wondered whether these youngsters ever went home since they were there day and night on a daily basis.Regularly during the night, fights would take place on the street which sometimes got badly out of hand.The tenants in the surrounding flats must have had sleepless nights from the noise which we as a bar owners found hard to control, since it takes place on municipal ground.Some weeks ago the city of Windhoek called me during the night, while I was in bed trying to recover from a very bad flu and told me that all my staff will be placed under arrest and that they will come to my house to arrest me as well.I managed to contact the person the next day and told him I did not know why we were all to be arrested.He told me that the tenants were complaining about the noise and the fights that took place on the streets.Two days later I managed to call a meeting at the Royal Hotel between the hotel management, myself and the owners of the other two bars.I had also phoned Nampol and the City of Windhoek (town planning department) who sat in on our meeting.The real problems only seemed to come to light at that meeting.The persons renting the complex rented out the 3 bars to 3 persons.The hotel liquor license was running in his name and as I learnt that day only he may trade on this license, unless we worked for him.During the meeting we were all shut down with immediate affect.This shutdown means that some 25 persons are presently unemployed including myself and that after being a taxpayer for some 36 years in Namibia.The house I am living in for some 25 odd years I will have to dispose of soon if I do not find other employment.The prostitutes are still doing their rounds in the area even if the Namibian law states that it is illegal in the country.Nampol will not round up these criminals if we can call them that since they can only prove that they are traders (jumpers) once they catch them receiving money for “services rendered”.This once again proves that sometimes it pays to be against certain laws in Namibia and not always try to adhere to all the laws.If for instance a supermarket chain draws clientele of which a certain percentage will always be from the bad crowd.Will Nampol and City of Windhoek close the entire chain because of that? One of the questions asked on the Chat Show was why I charged for the usage of my bathroom facilities.Fifty cents for a clean toilet is nothing compared to the fifty of even sixty dollars spent on liquor.Finally is it better to shut down some businesses and add to the unemployment figure in Namibia, than to act on several requests to Nampol or the City of Windhoek to help keep our streets safe from prostitutes and botsotsos that are there only to cause problems on a daily basis? When will zero tolerance for all and not only for some come into effect in Namibia?Bob Ziekenoppasser WindhoekNote:The writer attached the ‘rules’ of his bar, which among others states that fighting, drunks, foul language and weapons would not be tolerated.- EdAlmost two years ago, I opened a bar called Sparks next to the Royal Hotel.Since this part of Windhoek is know for its prostitution, I soon learnt what I was in for running a bar in this area.The first months of trading we, on an almost daily basis, had to contact Nampol to lock up the prostitutes and other troublemakers from my bar.Daily fights took place whenever a new face entered the bar as to who would claim the man for the night, and most certainly not without risk, since most of the men after some time were found to be robbed of their wallets and/or cell phones.Having a bar seems to attract many people loitering on the streets in front of the complex and sometimes I wondered whether these youngsters ever went home since they were there day and night on a daily basis.Regularly during the night, fights would take place on the street which sometimes got badly out of hand.The tenants in the surrounding flats must have had sleepless nights from the noise which we as a bar owners found hard to control, since it takes place on municipal ground.Some weeks ago the city of Windhoek called me during the night, while I was in bed trying to recover from a very bad flu and told me that all my staff will be placed under arrest and that they will come to my house to arrest me as well.I managed to contact the person the next day and told him I did not know why we were all to be arrested.He told me that the tenants were complaining about the noise and the fights that took place on the streets.Two days later I managed to call a meeting at the Royal Hotel between the hotel management, myself and the owners of the other two bars.I had also phoned Nampol and the City of Windhoek (town planning department) who sat in on our meeting.The real problems only seemed to come to light at that meeting.The persons renting the complex rented out the 3 bars to 3 persons.The hotel liquor license was running in his name and as I learnt that day only he may trade on this license, unless we worked for him.During the meeting we were all shut down with immediate affect.This shutdown means that some 25 persons are presently unemployed including myself and that after being a taxpayer for some 36 years in Namibia.The house I am living in for some 25 odd years I will have to dispose of soon if I do not find other employment.The prostitutes are still doing their rounds in the area even if the Namibian law states that it is illegal in the country.Nampol will not round up these criminals if we can call them that since they can only prove that they are traders (jumpers) once they catch them receiving money for “services rendered”.This once again proves that sometimes it pays to be against certain laws in Namibia and not always try to adhere to all the laws.If for instance a supermarket chain draws clientele of which a certain percentage will always be from the bad crowd.Will Nampol and City of Windhoek close the entire chain because of that? One of the questions asked on the Chat Show was why I charged for the usage of my bathroom facilities.Fifty cents for a clean toilet is nothing compared to the fifty of even sixty dollars spent on liquor.Finally is it better to shut down some businesses and add to the unemployment figure in Namibia, than to act on several requests to Nampol or the City of Windhoek to help keep our streets safe from prostitutes and botsotsos that are there only to cause problems on a daily basis? When will zero tolerance for all and not only for some come into effect in Namibia?Bob Ziekenoppasser WindhoekNote:The writer attached the ‘rules’ of his bar, which among others states that fighting, drunks, foul language and weapons would not be tolerated.- Ed