Assassinated or murdered? Questions about death of border activist refuse to die

THE mysterious murder three years ago of an activist who lobbied for moving the Namibian border northwards into Angola to unify the Oukwanyama tribe resurfaced in the National Assembly on Thursday.

It received attention when Prime Minister Nahas Angula replied to questions from the opposition. Bernard Nakale Shevanyenga, who chaired The Age of March (Tagoma) movement, was only 33 years old when three men gunned him down with an AK-47 rifle at Oshikuku village on October 11 2003.Tagoma was founded to campaign for the unification of the Oukwanyama tribe and shifting the Namibian-Angolan border northwards.President of the Congress of Democrats (CoD), Ben Ulenga, asked in Parliament if any progress had been made in finding the murderers and if Government had “a policy in place to assassinate opponents”.Replying to the questions on Thursday, Prime Minister Angula criticised Ulenga for being irresponsible for implying that Government had something to do with the murder.”Honourable Ulenga should have known better rather than making unsubstantiated statements that may verge on incitement to either distrust of the Government or violence,” Angula said.None of the three perpetrators had been found and the State could not therefore determine “if they were assassins or killers who committed their crime in pursuit of either personal reward or for political reasons”, Angula said.He told the House that the Police started investigating the murder case immediately upon receiving news of the shooting.”Unfortunately, no one has come forth and provided any evidence regarding the identity of the perpetrator(s),” the Prime Minister added.”The docket had been sent to the Prosecutor General.In the absence of any suspect(s), the Prosecutor General instructed the Police to instead turn the case into an inquest docket, which was done and the docket was sent back last year to the Prosecutor General for eventual referral to a competent court.”Angula urged Ulenga to approach the Prosecutor’s office if he knew of any witness or could provide any evidence himself, or to take the matter to the Anti-Corruption Commission, as it appeared Ulenga felt “that the Government is the culprit for both the act and the delay in solving this murder case”.In 2003, Oshikuku residents and family members told human rights investigators that the three assassins used an AK-47 assault rifle fitted with a silencer to kill Shevanyenga.Immediately after firing the shots, the three allegedly fled in a north-easterly direction for two kilometres.They were then picked up in a white bakkie, allegedly with a Government registration number, and sped off along the Ruacana-Oshakati road, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) reported then.”Shortly before the incident, the prime assassin was seen squatting in a dry dam with an AK-47 some 20 metres west of the cuca shop where Shevanyenga was gunned down,” according to the NSHR.At the time, it was apparently observed that the assassin was speaking to someone on a cellphone.Bernard Nakale Shevanyenga, who chaired The Age of March (Tagoma) movement, was only 33 years old when three men gunned him down with an AK-47 rifle at Oshikuku village on October 11 2003.Tagoma was founded to campaign for the unification of the Oukwanyama tribe and shifting the Namibian-Angolan border northwards.President of the Congress of Democrats (CoD), Ben Ulenga, asked in Parliament if any progress had been made in finding the murderers and if Government had “a policy in place to assassinate opponents”.Replying to the questions on Thursday, Prime Minister Angula criticised Ulenga for being irresponsible for implying that Government had something to do with the murder.”Honourable Ulenga should have known better rather than making unsubstantiated statements that may verge on incitement to either distrust of the Government or violence,” Angula said.None of the three perpetrators had been found and the State could not therefore determine “if they were assassins or killers who committed their crime in pursuit of either personal reward or for political reasons”, Angula said.He told the House that the Police started investigating the murder case immediately upon receiving news of the shooting.”Unfortunately, no one has come forth and provided any evidence regarding the identity of the perpetrator(s),” the Prime Minister added.”The docket had been sent to the Prosecutor General.In the absence of any suspect(s), the Prosecutor General instructed the Police to instead turn the case into an inquest docket, which was done and the docket was sent back last year to the Prosecutor General for eventual referral to a competent court.”Angula urged Ulenga to approach the Prosecutor’s office if he knew of any witness or could provide any evidence himself, or to take the matter to the Anti-Corruption Commission, as it appeared Ulenga felt “that the Government is the culprit for both the act and the delay in solving this murder case”.In 2003, Oshikuku residents and family members told human rights investigators that the three assassins used an AK-47 assault rifle fitted with a silencer to kill Shevanyenga.Immediately after firing the shots, the three allegedly fled in a north-easterly direction for two kilometres.They were then picked up in a white bakkie, allegedly with a Government registration number, and sped off along the Ruacana-Oshakati road, the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) reported then.”Shortly before the incident, the prime assassin was seen squatting in a dry dam with an AK-47 some 20 metres west of the cuca shop where Shevanyenga was gunned down,” according to the NSHR.At the time, it was apparently observed that the assassin was speaking to someone on a cellphone.