Election fraud case postponed to January

THE court case against the former Director of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), Fillemon Kanime, and two others for alleged election fraud has been postponed until January 2010.

Magistrate Sarel Jacobs on Friday told Kanime, ECN official Nico Mingelius and Magnus Nangombe in the Windhoek Regional Court that the case would be set down for three days from January 25 to 27. The alleged fraud relates to preparations in February last year for the municipal election in the newly proclaimed town of Omuthiya. Kanime received his summons last month, two days after a local weekly paper reported on the matter.’I only heard that I am to be charged from other people who read it in that paper,’ Kanime told The Namibian then.Kanime was put on ‘special leave’ in March 2008 while his deputy, Ananias Elago, Chief Control Officer Hesekiel Shigwedha and Chief System Administrator Nicodemus Mingelius were suspended for several months in the aftermath of the Omuthiya election. The municipal election was scheduled for February 29 2008, but was called off at the last minute amidst accusations of inefficiency and questions of political loyalty.The election was postponed until September 2008.Nangombe, who allegedly appeared fraudulently on the voters’ roll for Omuthiya, and Mingelius are both accused of having ‘forged an application for registration as a voter … on Form 2004305280 dated February 6 2008,’ according to the summons.Kanime is accused of ‘wrongfully, falsely and with intent to defraud, giving out and pretending to the Electoral Commission and/or Government that Accused No 1 [Nangombe] was on February 6 2008 lawfully and properly registered at Omuthiya for the election’.Nangombe and Mingelius are also charged on the same count. Mingelius returned to work at the ECN in July last year. According to sources, all other suspended employees had their suspension lifted around the same time. No disciplinary hearings were conducted, a source close to the ECN said.Nangombe was listed as RDP candidate for the Omuthiya town council. The ECN scrapped his name from the list after Swapo claimed Kanime had smuggled Nangombe onto the voters’ roll, as he allegedly registered after the official cut-off date. Kanime hit back by claiming that he did not know how Swapo had got hold of the list of candidates but he was sure that Nangombe had registered in time.Swapo objected to the presence of Nangombe’s name together with 11 others, while the RDP had pointed out that 54 names of people who did not live in the constituency were listed on the voters’ roll. Kanime’s ‘special leave’ lasted until his term of office ended September 2008. Lawyer Albert Strydom represented Nangombe at Friday’s hearing, while Hennie Barnard represented Mingelius and Kanime.