Don’t Break Laws To Protest

PEACEFUL protests are the right of all citizenry, no matter the issue.

Such public demonstrations must, however, comply with laws and regulations, and with recognition of this fact, these are acceptable manifestations in any democratic society. Such is the case too with the shebeen owners.They have the fullest right to protest both the implementation of the Liquor Act of 1998 as well as its provisions, and in fact they were facilitated by our law enforcement agencies when they marched to Parliament to hand over a petition to this effect to the Speaker, Theo-Ben Gurirab, last week.Habitually municipal authorities require notice of marches and other protests, not in order to deter or prevent them from taking place, but simply in order to ensure that among others, traffic officials can be put in place to monitor, among others, the use of public thoroughfares for abovementioned purposes.Namibians need to be tolerant of such manifestations, whether they be demonstrations by shebeen owners, women’s and children’s rights activists, environmental protesters, etc, even if they do not share the concerns being expressed.Most people feel that the shebeen owners have made their point with their march.Even if they choose to camp outside Parliament, as they have chosen to do, it is their right to continue, again, within the confines of the law.But exasperation is now clearly being expressed by many members of the public who feel that the shebeen demonstration has now gone too far, with protesters among others, sleeping in Parliament Gardens, doing their washing, cooking and even hacking up carcasses of beef in the process.This in turn has resulted in litter and we are uncertain, at the time of writing, as to where ablutions are taking place! Members of the public have called this newspaper to in turn protest the lack of action on the part of law enforcement authorities on what is now happening around one of the country’s national symbols, namely Parliament.Apart from the usual officers on foot patrol around what is known as the Tintenpalast, there was little sign yesterday of whether any action will be taken.What is happening now at Parliament, with the promise of more people to come from outlying regions, is unacceptable.Given the present concerns about the outbreak of polio in Namibia, and the national immunisation campaign that is currently taking place, health conditions at the heart of our Government (the prevailing shebeen situation at Parliament) are making a mockery of the Health Ministry’s efforts to curb polio – good hygiene being at the centre of a fight against this disease.In the normal run of events, tourists and residents visiting the Parliament gardens with their families over weekends are usually stopped from even photographing near this national symbol.Now there are people who are living there, with all that their presence entails in terms of health hazards.Similar health concerns at shebeens, mirrored in the requirements of the Liquor Act, are ironically one of the very issues the Act tries to address.There are ways and means of doing things, even a semi-permanent protest if the aggrieved shebeen owners felt that a one-off march was not enough.They could have disciplined people standing by the steps of Parliament with placards for the duration of the day, when and where they are visible, and they could return to their homes at night, to return again the following day.This would probably result in a lot more public sympathy and ensure that their ongoing campaign is noted, and they would be offending no one in the process.We would therefore call upon those at the centre of the controversy to change their mode of protest.It would be most unfortunate if the matter were to be exacerbated by Police action and arrests, which technically should be taking place if there is consistency in the aims of our law enforcers.It would generally foster a more positive approach towards the demonstrators if they were to instead take the initiative in this regard and cease the current behaviour.Such is the case too with the shebeen owners.They have the fullest right to protest both the implementation of the Liquor Act of 1998 as well as its provisions, and in fact they were facilitated by our law enforcement agencies when they marched to Parliament to hand over a petition to this effect to the Speaker, Theo-Ben Gurirab, last week.Habitually municipal authorities require notice of marches and other protests, not in order to deter or prevent them from taking place, but simply in order to ensure that among others, traffic officials can be put in place to monitor, among others, the use of public thoroughfares for abovementioned purposes.Namibians need to be tolerant of such manifestations, whether they be demonstrations by shebeen owners, women’s and children’s rights activists, environmental protesters, etc, even if they do not share the concerns being expressed.Most people feel that the shebeen owners have made their point with their march.Even if they choose to camp outside Parliament, as they have chosen to do, it is their right to continue, again, within the confines of the law.But exasperation is now clearly being expressed by many members of the public who feel that the shebeen demonstration has now gone too far, with protesters among others, sleeping in Parliament Gardens, doing their washing, cooking and even hacking up carcasses of beef in the process.This in turn has resulted in litter and we are uncertain, at the time of writing, as to where ablutions are taking place! Members of the public have called this newspaper to in turn protest the lack of action on the part of law enforcement authorities on what is now happening around one of the country’s national symbols, namely Parliament.Apart from the usual officers on foot patrol around what is known as the Tintenpalast, there was little sign yesterday of whether any action will be taken.What is happening now at Parliament, with the promise of more people to come from outlying regions, is unacceptable.Given the present concerns about the outbreak of polio in Namibia, and the national immunisation campaign that is currently taking place, health conditions at the heart of our Government (the prevailing shebeen situation at Parliament) are making a mockery of the Health Ministry’s efforts to curb polio – good hygiene being at the centre of a fight against this disease.In the normal run of events, tourists and residents visiting the Parliament gardens with their families over weekends are usually stopped from even photographing near this national symbol.Now there are people who are living there, with all that their presence entails in terms of health hazards.Similar health concerns at shebeens, mirrored in the requirements of the Liquor Act, are ironically one of the very issues the Act tries to address.There are ways and means of doing things, even a semi-permanent protest if the aggrieved shebeen owners felt that a one-off march was not enough.They could have disciplined people standing by the steps of Parliament with placards for the duration of the day, when and where they are visible, and they could return to their homes at night, to return again the following day.This would probably result in a lot more public sympathy and ensure that their ongoing campaign is noted, and they would be offending no one in the process.We would therefore call upon those at the centre of the controversy to change their mode of protest.It would be most unfortunate if the matter were to be exacerbated by Police action and arrests, which technically should be taking place if there is consistency in the aims of our law enforcers.It would generally foster a more positive approach towards the demonstrators if they were to instead take the initiative in this regard and cease the current behaviour.