remuneration and adherence to international labour standards to welfare of “the the people”. The human and societal values underlying these policies are generally self-evident. One of them, which may perhaps not be so apparent at first blush, follows from Namibia's membership of the ILO and the fundamental principles upon which that organisation is based as reasserted by the adoption of the Philadelphia Declaration. The principle that "labour is not a commodity” is often referred to and heavily relied on by the respondents in these proceedings. Whilst we acknowledge that the meaning thereof is not always uniformly understood the – colour attributed to it often depends on the socio-political perspective of the and that both real and philosophical distinctions may be drawn “beholder” – between "labour" and "labour power," the undeniable basic premise thereof is that labour is not a tradable innate object but an activity of human beings. Unlike a commodity, it cannot be bought or sold on the market without regard to the inseparable connection it has to the individual who produces it: it is integral to the person of a human being and intimately related to the skills, experience, qualifications, personality and life of that person. It is the means through which human beings provide for themselves, their dependants and their communities; a way through which they interact with others and assert themselves as contributing members of society; an activity through which to foster spiritual wellbeing, to enhance their abilities and to fulfil their potential. All these elements
remuneration and adherence to international labour standards to “the welfare of the people”. The human and societal values underlying these policies are generally self-evident. One of them, which may perhaps not be so apparent at first blush, follows from Namibia's membership of the ILO and the fundamental principles upon which that organisation is based as reasserted by the adoption of the Philadelphia Declaration. The principle that "labour is not a commodity” is often referred to and heavily relied on by the respondents in these proceedings. Whilst we acknowledge that the meaning thereof is not always uniformly understood – the colour attributed to it often depends on the socio-political perspective of the “beholder” – and that both real and philosophical distinctions may be drawn between "labour" and "labour power," the undeniable basic premise thereof is that labour is not a tradable innate object but an activity of human beings. Unlike a commodity, it cannot be bought or sold on the market without regard to the inseparable connection it has to the individual who produces it: it is integral to the person of a human being and intimately related to the skills, experience, qualifications, personality and life of that person. It is the means through which human beings provide for themselves, their dependants and their communities; a way through which they interact with others and assert themselves as contributing members of society; an activity through which to foster spiritual wellbeing, to enhance their abilities and to fulfil their potential. All these elements