Namibia
Minister urges residents to take up arms against criminals

afrol.com, 29 October - Namibian Minister of Home Affairs, the notorious Jerry Ekandjo, has urged residents in townships of the Namibian capital, Windhoek, to defend themselves from criminals, botsotsos, with anything they have in their possession. 

Minister Ekandjo is most known for the damaging publicity he regularly gives Namibia in the foreign press, such as initiatives to restrain the independence of the judiciary and rancorous attacks on the growing Namibian society of gays and lesbians. Urging Windhoek residents to take the law in their own hands thus is an initiative in line with other statements by Ekandjo, disrespecting the judiciary.

 

Minister of Home Affairs, Jerry Ekandjo

Speaking at a meeting over the weekend of 21-22 October with residents of Havana townships in Windhoek on criminal activities in the area, Ekandjo said, "The law has given you full rights to defend yourselves with whatever you have if criminals attack you". He also urged the police officers to use whatever they have at their disposal for self defence if criminals try to shoot them. "We fought for this country to gain independence and peace, but botsotsos want to destroy our peace and stability completely," Minister Ekandjo said. 

The Minister continued his speech intimidating the residents not to give shelter to suspected criminals. "If we enter in your house and find out that you are accommodating the criminals, we will capture you and everyone who is above 18 years in the house, because they also know that there are criminals operating from the house," Ekandjo threatened.

Having earlier spread statements of hatred against foreigners and homosexuals, Ekandjo now turns to the criminals, seeking to "eradicate criminals among the community." Earlier, he has urged the police to "eliminate" gays and lesbians "from the face of Namibia." He has urged Namibian not to employ foreigners because these will end up "killing them or abscond with their property". He wanted to withdraw the work permits of foreign judges because they were "working against the best intentions of the government". For this last statement, Ekandjo had to apologize to the judiciary.

Ekandjo's general message of hatred surprisingly does not generate reactions from his colleagues or President Sam Nujoma. On the contrary - Nujoma recently gave his support to Ekandjo's initiatives to eliminate Namibian gay citizens. With this disrespect of the judiciary and of human rights deeply rooted in the Namibian Executive, one is at least happy to note that the judiciary itself still maintains its independence and plays a vital part in counteracting these undemocratic trends. 

Sources: Based on Namibian Government sources

 

© afrol.com. Texts and graphics may be reproduced freely, under the condition that their origin is clearly referred to, see Conditions.    You can contact us at mail@afrol.com