Amushelelo wants unemployment declared a state of emergency

Activist Michael Amushelelo has called on the Namibian government to declare unemployment a state of emergency.He said this while discussing his plans to boycott the country’s Independence Day celebrations this year and host another mass demonstration against staggering unemployment rates. “The whole purpose of the protest against high unemployment is to force government to declare high unemployment a national crisis and for state-of-emergency measures to be implemented against unemployment,” he told Namibian Sun. This protest will be Amushelelo’s second of its kind in as many years. Last year, he spent just over seven months in prison after he was arrested alongside Affirmative Repositioning (AR) co-founder Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) member of parliament Inna Hengari and charged with contravening the Public Gathering Act, inciting public violence leading to malicious damage of property and violating a court order, with Hengari exempted from the latter charge.No fear“The Namibian Police sadly don’t have the power to stop any peaceful protest because these are fundamental rights enshrined in our law. “I have zero fears of either being arrested or killed, because I have dedicated myself to ensure that my fellow Namibians achieve economic freedom in our lifetime,” the Namibia Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) economic development commissar said. Amushelelo added that he is fully prepared for whatever happens on the day.“In the famous words of Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu before he was hanged to death by the apartheid government, ‘my blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom. Tell my people that I love them. They must continue the fight’.”According to the activist, the plans to protest come after he gave the police an ‘ultimatum’ to respond to his notice of protest. “Had the police failed to respond favourably to us, we were prepared - through [a lawyer] - to bring forth an urgent High Court application to force the Inspector-General of the Namibian Police to respect our constitution.”He added: “Our country is currently experiencing a huge surge in sophisticated robberies and several other violent crimes and this is a direct result of high unemployment. The Greek philosopher Aristotle once stated that &#039;poverty is the parent of revolution and crime&#039;. Things are only going to get worse if this crisis is not dealt with immediately.“No country can have any form of peace and development when there is an army of over 1.2 million people who are potential criminals or revolutionaries,” Amushelelo said.

Amushelelo wants unemployment declared a state of emergency

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-04

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Amushelelo wants unemployment declared a state of emergency

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-04

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