Ombudsman's decision pending
Seven-day deadline
Ombudsman to decide whether there are grounds to investigate allegations against Geingob.
Namibia’s Ombudsman Basilius Dyakugha will this week say whether there are grounds for an investigation into President Hage Geingob's alleged part in the alleged cover-up of the robbery on President Cyril Ramaphosa's farm in 2020, in which five Namibians were allegedly involved.
This follows after the deputy president of the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), Kalimbo Lipumpu, lodged a formal complaint with Dyakugha's office on Thursday last week, in which the ombudsman was requested to take public action within seven days regarding the allegations against Geingob.
"I am studying their complaint to determine whether it justifies an investigation or not. I will speak about the status of their complaint next week," he told Namibian Sun’s sister publication, Republikein, on Friday.
No comment
Meanwhile, the Namibian presidency said in a statement on Friday afternoon that "the defamatory allegations and insinuations made about Geingob is outrageous and unfortunate.
"There is absolutely no truth in the allegations that Geingob used his office improperly to assist President Ramaphosa,” a statement issued by presidential press secretary Alfredo Hengari, stated.
Ramaphosa told journalists in Cape Town on Friday afternoon he was not going to answer questions about the robbery on his farm, as the law had to take its course. He said he was advised not to answer questions about the issue in public for the time being.
Asked if he had been in touch with Geingob on the issue, Ramaphosa said he was on “speed-dial” with presidents in the region.
The former South African spy boss, Arthur Fraser, who lodged charges of money laundering and defeating the ends of justice against Ramaphosa on 1 June, alleged that the latter asked Geingob to help with the arrest of the suspect, Imanuwela David (37), in Namibia.
Public record
David was allegedly the mastermind in the planning and execution of the robbery on 9 February 2020 on Ramaphosa's farm Phala Phala in Limpopo, when US$4 million worth of US$ 100 notes, allegedly hidden in a couch, was stolen.
Four months later, on 12 June 2020, David entered the country illegally by rowing a canoe across the Orange River at Noordoewer.
According to the presidency, it is the constitutional and statutory task of the Namibian police to arrest suspects and the details of David's arrest on 14 June 2020 in Windhoek are "part of the public record".
"The presidency finds the politically motivated statements by some political leaders in South Africa, that a criminal investigation should be conducted against the President of the Republic of Namibia, absurd and downright absurd," Hengari said, referring to the EFF (in South Africa) and NEFF's demands.
Referring to Ramaphosa's alleged call to his Namibian counterpart, the presidency says Geingob liaises with other heads of state on "official matters, within established diplomatic protocols, in accordance with the president's constitutional powers and on the prescriptions of international practices on mutual cooperation between Heads of State and Government”.
Talk of the town
David allegedly asked people in the Cape underworld after the robbery on Phala Phala to protect him from those who wanted the stolen money back.
TimesLIVE reports that there was open talk among people in the underworld in Cape Town in 2020 about the incident after David showed up and started spending money left and right.
David, who grew up in the Omusati Region and later moved to South Africa where he obtained citizenship, reportedly asked for the help of prominent figures in the Cape Town underworld to protect him from those who tried to recover the stolen cash.
A senior official in government circles confirmed this to TimesLIVE.
According to this report, David's alleged accomplices, the Namibians Urrbanus Lomboleni Shaumbwako, Petrus Fikeipo Muhekeni, Erkki Shikongo and Petrus Afrikaner, are still in Cape Town.
The allegation is that David tried to enter Namibia unseen four months after the robbery as things in Cape Town became too hot for him.
Sources in criminal intelligence in South Africa apparently informed the Namibian police that he was on his way.
This follows after the deputy president of the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF), Kalimbo Lipumpu, lodged a formal complaint with Dyakugha's office on Thursday last week, in which the ombudsman was requested to take public action within seven days regarding the allegations against Geingob.
"I am studying their complaint to determine whether it justifies an investigation or not. I will speak about the status of their complaint next week," he told Namibian Sun’s sister publication, Republikein, on Friday.
No comment
Meanwhile, the Namibian presidency said in a statement on Friday afternoon that "the defamatory allegations and insinuations made about Geingob is outrageous and unfortunate.
"There is absolutely no truth in the allegations that Geingob used his office improperly to assist President Ramaphosa,” a statement issued by presidential press secretary Alfredo Hengari, stated.
Ramaphosa told journalists in Cape Town on Friday afternoon he was not going to answer questions about the robbery on his farm, as the law had to take its course. He said he was advised not to answer questions about the issue in public for the time being.
Asked if he had been in touch with Geingob on the issue, Ramaphosa said he was on “speed-dial” with presidents in the region.
The former South African spy boss, Arthur Fraser, who lodged charges of money laundering and defeating the ends of justice against Ramaphosa on 1 June, alleged that the latter asked Geingob to help with the arrest of the suspect, Imanuwela David (37), in Namibia.
Public record
David was allegedly the mastermind in the planning and execution of the robbery on 9 February 2020 on Ramaphosa's farm Phala Phala in Limpopo, when US$4 million worth of US$ 100 notes, allegedly hidden in a couch, was stolen.
Four months later, on 12 June 2020, David entered the country illegally by rowing a canoe across the Orange River at Noordoewer.
According to the presidency, it is the constitutional and statutory task of the Namibian police to arrest suspects and the details of David's arrest on 14 June 2020 in Windhoek are "part of the public record".
"The presidency finds the politically motivated statements by some political leaders in South Africa, that a criminal investigation should be conducted against the President of the Republic of Namibia, absurd and downright absurd," Hengari said, referring to the EFF (in South Africa) and NEFF's demands.
Referring to Ramaphosa's alleged call to his Namibian counterpart, the presidency says Geingob liaises with other heads of state on "official matters, within established diplomatic protocols, in accordance with the president's constitutional powers and on the prescriptions of international practices on mutual cooperation between Heads of State and Government”.
Talk of the town
David allegedly asked people in the Cape underworld after the robbery on Phala Phala to protect him from those who wanted the stolen money back.
TimesLIVE reports that there was open talk among people in the underworld in Cape Town in 2020 about the incident after David showed up and started spending money left and right.
David, who grew up in the Omusati Region and later moved to South Africa where he obtained citizenship, reportedly asked for the help of prominent figures in the Cape Town underworld to protect him from those who tried to recover the stolen cash.
A senior official in government circles confirmed this to TimesLIVE.
According to this report, David's alleged accomplices, the Namibians Urrbanus Lomboleni Shaumbwako, Petrus Fikeipo Muhekeni, Erkki Shikongo and Petrus Afrikaner, are still in Cape Town.
The allegation is that David tried to enter Namibia unseen four months after the robbery as things in Cape Town became too hot for him.
Sources in criminal intelligence in South Africa apparently informed the Namibian police that he was on his way.
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