‘Decline in civil liberties’ slammed

Jemima BeukesWINDHOEKAnalysts have attributed yesterday’s arrests of opposition figures Michael Amushelelo, Inna Hengari and Dimbulukeni Nauyoma to declining civil liberties in the country.Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) commissar Amushelelo, Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) member of parliament Hengari and Affirmative Repositioning (AR) co-founder Nauyoma were arrested at a peaceful march against high rates of unemployment - which was not authorised by police.The High Court compounded matters when, in its ruling delivered at 04:00 yesterday morning, it dismissed an urgent interim interdict filed by Amushelelo to proceed with the peaceful march.Judge Eileen Rakow dismissed the application, citing a lack of urgency.Police chief, Inspector-General Joseph Shikongo, informed the group last week that a national protest on youth unemployment is impossible on a public holiday, attributing this to a lack of capacity to ensure safety for everyone.Instead, the activists were asked to reschedule their protest, but the youth – hell-bent on having their voices heard on the symbolic Independence Day – continued, and by 07:00, hordes were chanting slogans and waving placards telling their stories of unemployment.The group going ahead with the gathering eventually led to the arrests of the three opposition figures.Orderly conductAccording to police spokesperson Kauna Shikwambi, Nauyoma and Amushelelo were arrested for contravening the Public Gathering Act, malicious damage to property, inciting public violence and violation of a court order.Human rights lawyer Norman Tjombe said Shikongo cannot prohibit public demonstrations, but can only impose conditions for orderly conduct, which he did not do when Amushelelo notified the police chief about the planned demonstration.Shikongo is currently suing Amushelelo for remarks the latter made about a fatal road accident involving the police chief in December.Some have questioned whether the protest request was denied on the basis of this friction.Prior to her arrest, Hengari told the unemployed youth: “In 1990 on the very same day, we celebrated independence from what we call the apartheid regime. We thought as young people the fruits of independence would be jobs; we thought it would be prosperity and not poverty. We thought as young people we would have access to free, quality education. Thirty-three years later, none of us can say we have any of those things”.Blatant violationSeveral graduates in the revered fields of law and engineering were part of the unemployed armies of young people.Tjombe said: “It is unfortunate and a blatant violation of the human right to peaceful demonstrations that the very exercise of that right is criminalised. Prima facie, no criminal offence was committed during the process of the demonstrations”.“It should be noted that the inspector-general cannot prohibit public demonstrations, but can only impose conditions for orderly conduct. The conditions so imposed must be published in the Government Gazette. As far as it can be established, no conditions were imposed by the inspector-general of the Namibian Police.”FundamentalExecutive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) Graham Hopwood said the right to protest is fundamental in a democracy and it shouldn’t matter which day it is - whether a public holiday or not.“You don’t have to agree with the protestors to believe that the right to protest should be upheld. As long as the protest was peaceful, I don’t see that there is a good reason for it to be stopped.“I’m worried that we are getting onto a slippery slope in terms of the decline of civil liberties in the country.”Swanu president Evilastus Kaaronda said he supports young people’s rights to seek economic justice in their country of birth.“Unemployment among our people has long reached crisis proportions and all our public institutions - including but not limited to the judiciary - must act in a manner that unequivocally supports this stance.“To fight for independence, among other things, meant that our people will enjoy the right to freedom of association, freedom of speech and so forth. The arrest of Nauyoma, Amushelelo and Hengari flies in the face of the very sacrifices our people made during the long and protracted years of the liberation struggle,” he told Namibian Sun.jemima@namibiansun.com

‘Decline in civil liberties’ slammed

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Namibian Sun 2024-12-27

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‘Decline in civil liberties’ slammed

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Namibian Sun 2024-12-27

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