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Nujoma did not buy arms in Saudi: Kaapanda
INFORMATION and Communication Technology Mister Joel Kaapanda has denied alleged rumours that former President Sam Nujoma had made a “secret trip to Saudi Arabia to buy weapons and smuggled them into Namibia”.
“Some opposition parties are engaged in a serious propaganda war campaign against the Swapo Party-led Government,” Kaapanda said in a statement that was seen by The Namibian yesterday and broadcast on NBC television news on Tuesday night.
Kaapanda issued the statement late on Tuesday directly from his office, without making use of the Ministry’s media liaison department. The statement was only sent to the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).
“Fabricated stories which purportedly came from a Swapo member are circling within opposition parties waiting to be published and make headlines in the print media, targeting prominent Swapo leaders and deliberately crafted to put the Swapo-led government in a bad light,” he criticised.
“Presently there is a particularly story circulating among some opposition groups alleging that the Founding Father, Dr Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, undertook a secret trip to Saudi Arabia where he bought weapons and smuggled them into Namibia. These weapons were allegedly fitted with silence devices and taken to Lieutenant General Lazarus Angula (sic), the Director of the Namibian Central Intelligence Service (NCIS), but he apparently refused to accept them.”
In his statement Minister Kaapanda apparently confused Lieutenant General Lucas Hangula with Professor Lazarus Angula, Vice Chancellor of the University of Namibia (Unam).
According to Minister the rumour about Nujoma did not end with the NCIS. “The same weapons were allegedly taken to Major General Peter Nambundunga, Acting Chief of the Namibian Defence Force, he also refused to accept these weapons,” the Minister said. According to him, the arms were now allegedly “in possession of Mr Ephraim Iileka, who works in the Office of the Founding President”.
Although Kaapanda never mentioned the names of any “opposition groups” or that of the Swapo member who allegedly started the rumours, he called on all patriotic Namibians to reject “the malicious propaganda of the opposition and their sinister attempts to destabilise our peaceful country”.
Kaapanda said the “futile attempts” of the opposition “calculatedly attempting to sow seeds of discord among Swapo party members to destroy the party from within”, were “doomed to failure”.
Yesterday Justice Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana addressed a media conference of the ruling party in her capacity as Secretary General of Swapo. She did not mention anything about the accusations raised by Minister Kaapanda.
