Legal time in Namibia
 
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Latitude and longitude of Namibia |
The legal time in Namibia , as in the neighboring countries South Africa and Botswana , is UTC + 2 .
The northern neighboring country Angola , which is in the same longitude range, has the zone time UTC + 1 ( time zone with reference longitude 15 ° East) which is better suited to the position of the sun . This is one hour ahead of the legal time in Namibia. Between 1994 and 2017, UTC + 1 was therefore used in winter (April to September), which corresponds to the actual geographical location of Namibia on both sides of the 15th degree of longitude . So you had the same situation as in Europe with summer time : In winter the time matched the position of the sun, in summer you were one hour ahead of it. In 2017, however , Namibia returned to year-round use of UTC + 2 .
history
Time change 1994–2017
The 1994 law stipulated that Namibian time was two hours ahead of world time ( GMT , now UTC ) during the summer and one hour (UTC + 1) during the winter. With this law, Namibia was assigned the time zone UTC + 1.
Namibia was the only African country in the southern hemisphere to change its clocks. Accordingly, the summer period was defined as the period between the first Sunday in September 2 a.m. and the first Sunday in April 2 a.m. The winter period was accordingly the period between the first Sunday in April 2 a.m. and the first Sunday in September 2 a.m. The Zambezi region (formerly Caprivi ) continued to adhere to the previous standard time of UTC + 2 due to its geographical location and did not change.
Controversial terms
The terms summer time (UTC + 2) and winter time (UTC + 1) were used in Namibia. Before 1994, summer time was seen as normal time in parlance because of its long-term, continuous use, although it is on average one hour ahead of the position of the sun (see above). This time was used all year round, as it has been since 2017, together with South Africa, among others.
Development since 2016
From January 2016 to February 29, 2016, the Ministry of the Interior called for opinions on a possible abolition of the time change. On February 22, 2017, Interior Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana applied for the law to be suspended and the time change to be abolished.
On August 7, 2017, the National Assembly passed the proposal for a new regulation of the statutory time. This was decided on July 13th after further nationwide consultations were concluded. Accordingly, UTC + 2 has been used all year round since the last changeover on September 3, 2017, as it was before 1994. In the current time zone map, Namibia is (again) assigned to the UTC + 2 time zone , in accordance with the Namibian Time Act, 2017 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Namibian Time Act, 1994 (Act 3 of 1994) , published in Official Gazette 811 of March 4, 1994
- ^ A b NA passes Namibia Time Bill repealing 1994 Namibia Time Act. 7th August 2017.
- ↑ a b Namibian Time Act, 1994 (Act 3 of 1994). Paragraph 1, Section 1 (a) and (b), Government Gazette of the Republic of Namibia, No. 811, March 4, 1994 (PDF; 69 kB)
- ↑ See time zone map from 2016
- ↑ It's Summer Time. New Era, September 1, 2009 ( memento of July 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) accessed on May 13, 2013
- ^ Safety, Geography And Time Change. The Namibian, April 24, 2009. Retrieved May 13, 2013
- ↑ Namibia Changes to Summer Time on Sunday, September 6, 2016. Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, August 31, 2016.
- ↑ Summertime now also in winter. Allgemeine Zeitung, February 23, 2017.
- ↑ Public to be consulted on time change law. New Era, October 8, 2015.
- ↑ Abolishing winter time is “not a big deal”. Allgemeine Zeitung, February 24, 2016
- ↑ Winter time set to bite the dust. Namibian Sun, February 22, 2017.
- ↑ Winter time will soon be a thing of the past. Allgemeine Zeitung, July 13, 2017.
- ↑ Namibian Time Act No. 3 of 1994 Repealed. Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, March 29, 2018.
