Justice Minister scorns homosexuality as 'criminal'

By: LINDSAY DENTLINGER

HOMOSEXUALITY is "illegal and criminal" in Namibia, Justice Minister Albert Kawana said in the National Assembly yesterday, snubbing a request by the DTA to include a provision in the new Labour Bill that would prevent discrimination against employees based on their sexual orientation.

During the Committee Stage of the debate on the legislation, which

is set to replace the current Labour Act of 1992, the DTA's Johan

de Waal requested that Labour Minister Marco Hausiku retain a

provision in the current Act that prohibits sexual discrimination.

But, instead, it was Kawana who chose to respond to his

demand.

 

"In Namibia, sexual orientation is not really accepted in any

Namibian law or in any policy.

 

The Supreme Court has found homosexuality and such things as

illegal and criminal acts in Namibia."

 

The House was notably silent at this point, but Kawana did not

cite the case in which this ruling was made.

 

De Waal then made it expressly clear that he was unhappy that

this provision was being removed from the new Bill and said that

"if we were the Government, we would want that it be in there".

 

He said Government was likely to come into conflict with

international labour legislation and human rights conventions it

had acceded to if it did away with the provision.

 

According to clause 107 of the current Act, an employee may

approach the labour court if he or she is discriminated against on

a number of grounds, including sexual orientation.

 

However, in the new legislation's clause 5 (2), which deals with

discrimination in any employment practice directly or indirectly,

sexual orientation is not included as a ground for such legal

redress.

 

With much resistance from De Waal on numerous aspects of the

Bill - mostly related to the interpretation of terms used - the

Bill was eventually passed.

 

Hausiku put most queries down to misunderstanding of the

legalese contained in the Bill.

 

"The Bill is being drafted in a concise manner and language.

 

Therefore we have interpretation of laws.

 

The [labour] law is based on give and take.

 

It is not based on what someone wants," he said.

 

De Waal maintained that there were many matters which had to be

more clearly articulated and predicted that the Bill would return

to the House for amendment on several occasions in future.

 

To this Hausiku responded:"I am not afraid of coming back for

improvements.

 

These are living laws."

 

After the House had spent nearly an hour and a half commenting

on various provisions of the Bill, the Deputy Chairperson of the

Whole House Committee, Doreen Sioka, appeared to hasten proceedings

along, reminding MPs that they would have to return to the House on

Friday morning [not customary practice] to approve the national

Budget, if they lingered much longer over the Bill.

 

But, taking issue with provisions related to labour hire,

Minister without Portfolio Ngarikutuke Tjiriange complained: "I

don't think it is fair to be rushed into something without

expressing ourselves.

 

We are making laws here."

 

After De Waal had raised his umpteenth concern, this time on the

leave accorded to casual workers who work for more than one

employee, he caused Minister of Higher Education, Training and

Employment Creation Nahas Anagula to ask:"Are you cross with the

Minister because he won't agree to your sexual orientation thing?"

De Waal took particular issue with a radical new change to

provisions on maternity leave, which will require employers to pay

pregnant employees in full [including all benefits] during

maternity leave.

 

They will then be allowed to claim back only the basic salary

paid to their employee from the Social Security Commission

(SSC).

 

De Waal questioned whether this was fair on employers, but

Hausiku said the new Bill sought to make things easier for

employees who sometimes had to wait up to seven months before they

received a pay-out from the SSC.

 

Hausiku replied that an employee should not stand to lose the

benefit of her employment because she was pregnant.

 

But, instead, it was Kawana who chose to respond to his demand."In

Namibia, sexual orientation is not really accepted in any Namibian

law or in any policy.The Supreme Court has found homosexuality and

such things as illegal and criminal acts in Namibia."The House was

notably silent at this point, but Kawana did not cite the case in

which this ruling was made.De Waal then made it expressly clear

that he was unhappy that this provision was being removed from the

new Bill and said that "if we were the Government, we would want

that it be in there".He said Government was likely to come into

conflict with international labour legislation and human rights

conventions it had acceded to if it did away with the

provision.According to clause 107 of the current Act, an employee

may approach the labour court if he or she is discriminated against

on a number of grounds, including sexual orientation.However, in

the new legislation's clause 5 (2), which deals with discrimination

in any employment practice directly or indirectly, sexual

orientation is not included as a ground for such legal redress.With

much resistance from De Waal on numerous aspects of the Bill -

mostly related to the interpretation of terms used - the Bill was

eventually passed.Hausiku put most queries down to misunderstanding

of the legalese contained in the Bill."The Bill is being drafted in

a concise manner and language.Therefore we have interpretation of

laws.The [labour] law is based on give and take.It is not based on

what someone wants," he said.De Waal maintained that there were

many matters which had to be more clearly articulated and predicted

that the Bill would return to the House for amendment on several

occasions in future.To this Hausiku responded:"I am not afraid of

coming back for improvements.These are living laws."After the House

had spent nearly an hour and a half commenting on various

provisions of the Bill, the Deputy Chairperson of the Whole House

Committee, Doreen Sioka, appeared to hasten proceedings along,

reminding MPs that they would have to return to the House on Friday

morning [not customary practice] to approve the national Budget, if

they lingered much longer over the Bill.But, taking issue with

provisions related to labour hire, Minister without Portfolio

Ngarikutuke Tjiriange complained: "I don't think it is fair to be

rushed into something without expressing ourselves.We are making

laws here."After De Waal had raised his umpteenth concern, this

time on the leave accorded to casual workers who work for more than

one employee, he caused Minister of Higher Education, Training and

Employment Creation Nahas Anagula to ask:"Are you cross with the

Minister because he won't agree to your sexual orientation thing?"

De Waal took particular issue with a radical new change to

provisions on maternity leave, which will require employers to pay

pregnant employees in full [including all benefits] during

maternity leave.They will then be allowed to claim back only the

basic salary paid to their employee from the Social Security

Commission (SSC).De Waal questioned whether this was fair on

employers, but Hausiku said the new Bill sought to make things

easier for employees who sometimes had to wait up to seven months

before they received a pay-out from the SSC.Hausiku replied that an

employee should not stand to lose the benefit of her employment

because she was pregnant.

---