EDITORIAL: Police becoming too political
Michael Amushelelo, a politician for the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), was in hospital last night, nursing wounds inflicted upon him by members of the Namibian Police.
Amushelelo divides opinion and he thrives on this equilibrium. But in law, and in dispensing our democratic obligations, our opinions of him do not matter. Whether he is a hero or villain is immaterial in the eyes of our constitution.
Yesterday, the employees of Craft Bistro told the police that there is nothing Amushelelo did in isolation, thus demanding to be arrested in solidarity with the red beret activist, but police only targeted the NEFF commissar. Due to this, their behaviour is dubious and reeks of partisan politics.
The police’s heavy-handedness in a low-key labour matter was brutal and violent – to the chagrin of the general populace. There were no windows smashed, nor was a kitchen set alight by the exploited employees – so what justifies police violence in a relatively calm situation?
Our police are increasingly becoming a political player. Why, for example, did they only arrest politicians during last year’s Chinatown confrontations, but non-political actors, who faced the exact same charges as Amushelelo and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma, were not locked up? What political lessons did the police want to teach the two men?
Police participation in politics endangers its own legitimacy, and it is a danger to democratic processes.
Amushelelo divides opinion and he thrives on this equilibrium. But in law, and in dispensing our democratic obligations, our opinions of him do not matter. Whether he is a hero or villain is immaterial in the eyes of our constitution.
Yesterday, the employees of Craft Bistro told the police that there is nothing Amushelelo did in isolation, thus demanding to be arrested in solidarity with the red beret activist, but police only targeted the NEFF commissar. Due to this, their behaviour is dubious and reeks of partisan politics.
The police’s heavy-handedness in a low-key labour matter was brutal and violent – to the chagrin of the general populace. There were no windows smashed, nor was a kitchen set alight by the exploited employees – so what justifies police violence in a relatively calm situation?
Our police are increasingly becoming a political player. Why, for example, did they only arrest politicians during last year’s Chinatown confrontations, but non-political actors, who faced the exact same charges as Amushelelo and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma, were not locked up? What political lessons did the police want to teach the two men?
Police participation in politics endangers its own legitimacy, and it is a danger to democratic processes.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article