March 3 2008

PRESS RELEASE

NSHR praises President Lucas Hifikepunye Pohamba and Information Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah for emulating the good example set by certain Opposition leaders in the country. The two Namibian leaders over the weekend urged SWAPO Party supporters to refrain from engaging in acts of provocation and political violence against their opponents.

Addressing a rally at Omauni village, some 110 kilometers east of Eenhana, in the Ohangwena Region, on Friday, February 29 2008, Ms. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah unequivocally urged her audience not physically attack anyone because of their political affiliation.

On Saturday, March 1 2008, President Pohamba, who is also President of the ruling SWAPO Party, implored “all Opposition parties, including the SWAPO Party, [to] ensure that their members do not resort to any politically driven violent activities”.

Pohamba's call came within a week after he received severe public criticism following prominent media and persistent human rights reports about the escalating incidents of political hate speech and provocative conduct coming from SWAPO Party members in the northern parts of the country.

Opposition Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) leaders have systematically urged their followers to refrain from engaging in or even responding to acts of provocation and not to treat their political opponents as enemies. Emulating the good example set especially by RDP leaders, the Namibian Head of State also said on Saturday that political violence and other provocative acts should be reported to the Namibian Police (NamPol) without delay. Referring to the recent post-election mayhem and bloodletting in Kenya, President Pohamba warned that political violence “causes destruction to the socio-economic development of a country”.

The President made this appeal at a SWAPO Party rally held at the town of Keetmanshoop, the regional capital of the Karas Region, some 500 kilometers south of the Namibian capital.

The human rights organization is, however, still concerned that the President’s good message might not have the impact it deserves. For significant, but not irreparable, damage had already been caused by the provocative conduct from SWAPO Party supporters in the northwestern regions of the country.

“We fear that Pohamba’s message might have fallen on deaf ear. Firstly, because at Keetmanshoop he spoke in English, the official language, while when he referred to his political opponents at the HA-NA-HE butchery as “Judas Iscariots” and “traitors”, President Pohamba spoke in his native oshiKwanyama vernacular. That butchery is viewed as ground zero of political hate speech and violence. Secondly, our Head of State has so far apparently ignored our recent and ongoing calls upon him to address the nation, on national television and radio, on the escalating political hate speech and political violence in the country. Anyway, better late than never!” said NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh.

Moreover, NSHR remains gravely concerned about continued political hate speech and other incendiary remarks coming from other senior SWAPO Party leaders at both Keetmanshoop and elsewhere. Speaking at the same rally as President Pohamba on Saturday, former Namibian President Sam Nujoma accused SWAPO Party critics of inter alia choosing ‘not to recognize’ the achievements of SWAPO Party. Nujoma is also quoted in the main independent English daily newspaper, The Namibian, as saying:

“[The Opposition parties] have chosen instead to trigger tribalism and ethnicity and divide our people. I would like to caution fellow Namibians that we had enough of apartheid colonialism and its divisive tendencies of divide-and-rule.”

During another SWAPO Party rally held at the coastal town of Walvis Bay on February 9 2008, Nujoma reportedly also threatened “confrontation and bloodshed” against those Opposition leaders who played down SWAPO Party’s achievements.

Addressing a SWAPO Party rally at Ongwediva on February 24 2008, the party’s Secretary General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, who owns the controversial HA-NA-HE butchery, also engaged as usual in political hate speech. Ms. Ithana allegedly made disparaging remarks about inter alia the person of human rights defender Phil ya Nangoloh and senior RDP leaders as well as slain Namibian hero King Mandume ya Ndemufayo. King ya Ndemufayo was the most respected leader of the Ovakwanyama people.

Speaking at yet another SWAPO Party rally at the town of Eenhana Saturday, newly appointed SWAPO Party Information and Publicity Secretary, Jerry Ekandjo, allegedly also spoke ‘in conflicting tongues’. While he urged a crowd of some 250 supporters to sing “Phil ya Nangoloh, the nation hates you” and “The tails of Phil ya Nangoloh, Hidipo Hamutenya, Jesaya Nyamu, Ben Ulenga and [Abraham] Ndumbu must be cut off”, maverick Ekandjo also said this:

“I heard the people ‘of Phil ya Nangoloh’ [meaning human rights defenders] are here with us. Let them be with us and let them write [what we say]. Whenever you see those Opposition supporters speaking around at your cuca-shops don’t beat or insult them. Just prepare to [beat] them at the ballot box”.

Ekandjo then allegedly also attacked what he called “whites and Boers” by saying:

“Do not consider those old whites and Boers as good people. They are killers. If it was not their acts, Namibia would have a large number of inhabitants like our neighboring countries, such as South Africa and Angola”.

Ekandjo apparently forgot that the so-called Boers also have been ruling South Africa! He concluded his speech by singing praises for former Namibian President Sam Nujoma:

“Sema ou li peni? Yelula epandela, ola Namibia [Oshikwanyama language for ‘Sam where are you? Raise the flag of Namibia’]”.

One of the human rights defenders who monitored the Ekandjo meeting sarcastically remarked: “I wonder why Ekandjo failed to also sing praise for President Pohamba!”

Meanwhile, NSHR also congratulates NamPol Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga and his officers for having drastically acted against the perpetrators of the violence that had occurred between February 23 and 24 2008 in the northwestern parts of the country.

“We have established from reliable sources that all those alleged incidents of violence have already been investigated by the Police and that a large number of perpetrators have been arrested. As we have indicated in our previous reports, SWAPO Party supporters had committed most, if not all, the acts of violence and political hate speech that had so far occurred in the country. After all, such acts have been perpetrated at the direct or indirect instigations or with the full knowledge or acquiescence of some senior SWAPO Party leaders”, ya Nangoloh noted.

In case of additional comment, please call Dorkas Phillemon or Phil ya Nangoloh at Tel: 061 236 183 or 061 253 447 (office hours) or Cell: +264 811 299 641 (Dorkas) or Cell: +264 811 299 886 (Phil) or E-mail: nshr@nshr.org.na or visit: National Society for Human Rights :: Tolerance - Liberty - Happiness