Namibia Grapples With Piracy
Although Namibia is reported to be doing well in the fight against piracy, it is continuously a destination of pirated goods from neighbouring countries and also from as far as China.
Revealing this worrying trend to New Era recently, Director of the Namibia Society of Composers and Authors of Music (Nascam) John Max said a lot of counterfeit goods are being brought into the country.
He added that at a recent Sub-Regional Conference on Enforcement on Piracy in Harare, Zimbabwe, it turned out that Namibia is doing well in terms of fighting piracy compared to other Southern African countries.
But illegal acts especially those that rob local musicians of their copyrights are damaging the image and reputation of the country.
Max therefore encouraged the ge-neral public to stop supporting piracy and rather assist law enforcement officials to expose the culprits.
The four-day conference took place from October 17 to 20, bringing together Southern African states like Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana, South Africa and Malawi.
In view of the ongoing problem of piracy in the region, member states agreed to cooperate in order to curb or at least minimise piracy.
“It looks like Namibia has a better way of detecting pirated stuff compared to other countries in the region. We work closely together with police and customs when confiscating such goods,” explained Max.
Early last week, customs and excise officials together with the Namibian Police and Nascam raided Chinese shops and open markets in Katima Mulilo and Rundu, confiscating a consignment of fake DVDs worth a total estimated street value of N$140 000.
Besides these fake Chinese DVDs, officials also confiscated pirated music CDs, cassettes and boxes of fake-labelled cigarettes that were imported from neighbouring Angola into Namibia.
The raid formed part of training for officials in the Caprivi and Kavango regions.
“People must be arrested or even given written warnings. It appears that the police are reluctant to arrest because statements are not taken down properly in the first place,” said Max.
Police officials are reportedly not well versed with the Copyright Act.
“We are planning to have some training on that in Windhoek and Mariental. We will soon come up with a guide or booklet on how such acts should be conducted,” added Max.
Anti-piracy raids conducted last year netted fake DVDs worth N$2,8-million dollars while two more operations were held this year.
Via New Era
