•  December 2000February 2001 Local News Headlines

Thursday, March 1, 2001 - Web posted at 7:49:11 AM GMT

Cops swoop on CoD leaders in South
MAX HAMATA

THREE Congress of Democrats leaders in the South have been arrested two days after they criticised the Police for being ineffective in combating crime.

The CoD branch chairperson at Tses, Ambrosius Mita, his deputy Jan !Karib, and the party's branch secretary, Reverend David Isaaks Vries, addressed a community meeting at the village 80 kilometres north of Keetmanshoop on Saturday.

The trio were arrested at Ambrosius's house on Monday and driven to the Keetmanshoop Police's regional office."

"The meeting was peaceful and nothing extraordinary happened, and we did not predict such severe consequences," said CoD Member of Parliament Rosa Namises, who addressed Saturday's meeting.

"When the uniformed Police arrived they were standing a distance away, until we invited them to come... they listened attentively."

"She said at the meeting the community expressed dissatisfaction with the Police's attitude towards dealing with crime.

They were accused of being late or not turning up at all when people reported crimes.

Namises said the community was furious at being told the Police did not have transport to respond to crime calls, while they had witnessed Policemen using official vehicles for private errands after hours.

Namises said she was shocked to learn that the three CoD officials had been arrested shortly after they had spoken out about the way the Police handled crime at Tses.

She said the CoD was trying to establish the reasons for the detentions.

Reverend Vries's wife, Anna, yesterday said she was alarmed that her husband had not returned home after he was detained on Monday.

"All I got from the Police is that my husband has been taken to Keetmanshoop for apparently harassing the Police... they didn't tell us how, but he is definitely still in Police hands," she said in a telephonic interview from Tses."

"It has surely something to do with the CoD meeting because they were seen as causing trouble in the area with their politics," she added.

The Police at Tses refused to comment on the arrests.

Police spokesperson in Windhoek, Sergeant James Matengu, said he had received information that the men were arrested for "obstruction of justice".

He was unable to elaborate.

Keetmanshoop Public Prosecutor Uanisa Hengari told The Namibian that Mita, !Karib and Vries made a brief appearance in the Magistrate's Court on Tuesday but were released because "there was no prima facie case against them"."

"They allegedly stopped a Police officer from carrying out his duty but there was no proof to continue with the case.

The case was thrown out because there was no evidence to prosecute them," he said.

When The Namibian tried to reach the three men at their residences at Tses yesterday, their families were under the impression that they were still in Police custodyat Keetmanshoop.

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