Found Guilty Before Appearing in Court
MS LISTER, your opposition to injustice and doctrines of abuse is known internationally. Your exemplary dedication and patriotism towards Namibia, especially within media circles, are stimulating and gratifying, please continue to be the voice of the voiceless. When I visited Namibia your daily reporting in your newspaper The Namibian was inspiring, especially your SMS section.
I request you to kindly place my letter in your newspaper. Maybe this writing will or may help the cause of so many aggrieved and frustrated people in dealing with self-esteemed hierarchical status people. My brother has been working in Namibia since 2002 on the mines in the engineering field. He has subsequently opened up a business in the provision of engineering services and has through the years worked in the country with work visas. He accordingly applied for a work visa in April 2009 to which the response is still outstanding.
The arrest of Trevor Visagie came as a complete and bewildering shock to our family in South Africa, the damning newspaper articles that followed in the Namib Times dated June 16 and 19 2009 respectively, already found him guilty for whatever reason they decided he should found guilty of. They even published his passport photo in the newspaper, which is exclusive information that could only be obtained from authorities. What happened to constitutional rights in that country, and how come numerous Chinese, Spaniards, Zimbabweans, Angolans and other foreign nations freely and without authority interference move around the open spaces of your country. Maybe it is a sin to be a South African as even the previously South Africans that came to seek a better life in Namibia (such as the owners of the newspaper that carried the article in the Namib Times) broker vehemently to vilify and crucify the South African that now seek to develop business or a better life in Namibia.
My visit to Walvis Bay revived the dark days of apartheid, the inhumane treatment, the Nazi doctrine and the disrespect for human life and human values. The shocking unwashed, dirty picture of my brother in distress that greeted me at the Narraville prison made my stomach turn and will stay with me for as long as I live. It took me back to the bewildered faces of our political prisoners of the past.
At the offices of the Ministry of Home Affairs the treatment and interaction was no different. While negotiating for bail application I was greeted with the most hostile “baasskap” behaviour which is essentially and extremely disconcerting. The cherry on the cake was obviously the unilateral and one-sided journalistic report, a living example of improper and poor journalistic ethics. My brother was made a criminal even before a court of law could hear his case, again a mammoth constitutional flaw.
Are the remnants of the Apartheid “crayfish mentality” so embedded in our DNA that we will steep to whatever length to prevent progress amongst our own people? Is this why the sacrifices to fight liberation struggle on both sides of the South African and Namibian borders was made? Is this the manner how we treat our brothers and sisters across the borders? The only opportunity my brother asks for is to have the same economic freedom as a plethora of businesses such as the owners of the Namib Times, whom at some stage or another were in a similar position to obtain documentation to verify their stay in Namibia.
Our sufferings in Africa (South Africa & Namibia) indicate to have being done to benefit the Chinese, Europeans, Spanish, Greeks and others, who enjoy ample economic freedom and special opportunities by being adequately connected.
The family of Trevor Visagie asks business associates to judge him for his work and integrity rather that the personal grievances certain entities hold against him and their concerted effort to taint his name.
We request the broader community and business associates to support and assist him as we never know who may be the next one on the list. It could be you, a family member, a loved one or your child, people with moral fibre and value. We need to unite to promote and instil justice in society to uphold a cause.
Daphne Forbes
on behalf of the Visagie family, South Africa