Geingob 'must also apologise'
Lubango dungeon victims say they support Gabrielle Lubowski unconditionally for holding President Hage Geingob accountable, adding he has some explaining to do.
Swapo dungeon activists have come out in support of Gabrielle Lubowski, saying President Hage Geingob should also apologise for what happened at Lubango.
Lubowski issued a one-line apology to Geingob on Wednesday under the heading 'Unconditional Apology and Retraction'.
This follows threats by Geingob to sue her over comments in an open letter she penned that was leaked on social media.
In the leaked letter she said she has been requesting an audience with Geingob since 1990 and accused him of betraying her husband, Anton, with whom Geingob spoke on the night he was assassinated.
Anton, who was the then Swapo deputy finance secretary, was shot by a group of assailants in front of his house in Sanderburg Street in central Windhoek on 12 September 1989
His widow also wrote that Geingob's refusal to meet with her was “an admission of guilt”.
On Wednesday she released an apology which read: “I, Gabrielle Lubowski, issue an unconditional apology to Dr Hage Geingob and retract my words in the draft letter of 16 June 2019.” Swapo veteran and Lubango dungeon survivor Mihe Gaomab said this week: “We must not have selective s**t on dealing with serious matters such as this one. I want the president [to] be a man of his boastful words about reconciliation and unity. Otherwise he is not clean, as the chickens are coming home to roost. The past always catches up with time. Let's all be clean.” Gaomab further posted on Facebook, before Lubowski issued her apology, that if Geingob wants a retraction and apology from Lubowski, then Swapo should do the same for the ex-Swapo detainees.
“As a matter of fact President Geingob was the last man speaking… privately to Anton Lubowski before he was murdered by mafia-style execution. Many former Swapo detainees were not seen talking with the enemy before they were tortured and detained.
“I urge Gabi Lubowski not to retract and face up to the court if needs be. Selective application of justice is a sham. He must also apologise to Swapo detainees,” Gaomab wrote.
Geingob's lawyer Sisa Namandje threatened Lubowksi with a lawsuit if she had failed to retract the comments she made in the leaked letter.
On Wednesday the joint committee of the Committee of Parents and the Truth and Justice Committee Joint Committee of Parents and the Truth and Justice chair Erica Beukes said in a statement that they support Lubowski unconditionally for holding Geingob accountable, adding he has some explaining to do.
The committee questioned why the president is treating the matter as a personal one, adding that it is a serious matter of lawlessness, in which an aggrieved person is treated with disregard, discourteously and contemptuously, despite the Namibian Constitution providing for a person to be treated with respect and courtesy as a fundamental right. “It further confirms that the regime will not take responsibility for anything. Geingob threatens Gabrielle Lubowski with a court which he and his predecessors has created as an extension of himself, as a legal miscreant. Even if Mrs Lubowski in her grief is forced into submission; we state it clearly that Mr Geingob is accountable in the death of Anton Lubowski,” said Beukes.
The committee has recently called for an international commission of inquiry into alleged crimes against humanity committed by the Swapo leadership “and their associates” during the exile years of 1966 to 1986 in the so-called dungeon saga. According to Beukes, Lubowski is a widowed victim of a cowardly and dastardly deed, while Geingob, as the president of the Namibian state, had to investigate and account fully on the steps taken and what the findings were, in terms of Anton's murder.
Lubowski issued a one-line apology to Geingob on Wednesday under the heading 'Unconditional Apology and Retraction'.
This follows threats by Geingob to sue her over comments in an open letter she penned that was leaked on social media.
In the leaked letter she said she has been requesting an audience with Geingob since 1990 and accused him of betraying her husband, Anton, with whom Geingob spoke on the night he was assassinated.
Anton, who was the then Swapo deputy finance secretary, was shot by a group of assailants in front of his house in Sanderburg Street in central Windhoek on 12 September 1989
His widow also wrote that Geingob's refusal to meet with her was “an admission of guilt”.
On Wednesday she released an apology which read: “I, Gabrielle Lubowski, issue an unconditional apology to Dr Hage Geingob and retract my words in the draft letter of 16 June 2019.” Swapo veteran and Lubango dungeon survivor Mihe Gaomab said this week: “We must not have selective s**t on dealing with serious matters such as this one. I want the president [to] be a man of his boastful words about reconciliation and unity. Otherwise he is not clean, as the chickens are coming home to roost. The past always catches up with time. Let's all be clean.” Gaomab further posted on Facebook, before Lubowski issued her apology, that if Geingob wants a retraction and apology from Lubowski, then Swapo should do the same for the ex-Swapo detainees.
“As a matter of fact President Geingob was the last man speaking… privately to Anton Lubowski before he was murdered by mafia-style execution. Many former Swapo detainees were not seen talking with the enemy before they were tortured and detained.
“I urge Gabi Lubowski not to retract and face up to the court if needs be. Selective application of justice is a sham. He must also apologise to Swapo detainees,” Gaomab wrote.
Geingob's lawyer Sisa Namandje threatened Lubowksi with a lawsuit if she had failed to retract the comments she made in the leaked letter.
On Wednesday the joint committee of the Committee of Parents and the Truth and Justice Committee Joint Committee of Parents and the Truth and Justice chair Erica Beukes said in a statement that they support Lubowski unconditionally for holding Geingob accountable, adding he has some explaining to do.
The committee questioned why the president is treating the matter as a personal one, adding that it is a serious matter of lawlessness, in which an aggrieved person is treated with disregard, discourteously and contemptuously, despite the Namibian Constitution providing for a person to be treated with respect and courtesy as a fundamental right. “It further confirms that the regime will not take responsibility for anything. Geingob threatens Gabrielle Lubowski with a court which he and his predecessors has created as an extension of himself, as a legal miscreant. Even if Mrs Lubowski in her grief is forced into submission; we state it clearly that Mr Geingob is accountable in the death of Anton Lubowski,” said Beukes.
The committee has recently called for an international commission of inquiry into alleged crimes against humanity committed by the Swapo leadership “and their associates” during the exile years of 1966 to 1986 in the so-called dungeon saga. According to Beukes, Lubowski is a widowed victim of a cowardly and dastardly deed, while Geingob, as the president of the Namibian state, had to investigate and account fully on the steps taken and what the findings were, in terms of Anton's murder.
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