PRESIDENT Hage Geingob violated the law prohibiting racial discrimination in Namibia by claiming white Namibian voters have declared war against Swapo.
This is according to Toni Hancox, director of the Legal Assistance Centre.
She says the decision to vote for a specific political party is not “war against any other party”, but citizens’ democratic right.
Geingob at the launch of Swapo’s campaign for the upcoming regional council and local authority elections in Windhoek on Saturday said he has noted a trend of white Namibians registering “in big numbers” to vote.
The problem was they were conspiring to vote for “anything else but Swapo”, he said.
This development, the president said, was a declaration of war against Swapo – despite the fact that the ruling party made sure they [white Namibians] enjoyed peace, unity and comfort for “all this time”.
Geingob has been widely criticised for these remarks.
Hancox in a statement issued yesterday said the right to participate in peaceful political activity does not only extend to those supporting the ruling party.
Hancox said the Racial Discrimination Prohibition Act forbids any person from publicly using any language with intent to threaten or insult any person or group of persons on the grounds that such persons belong to a particular racial group.
She said if Geingob wanted to criticise voters who hold a particular point of view, he could have done that without basing such criticism on race.
“The Legal Assistance Centre objects to any characterisation of Namibian voters by race or ethnicity. Not all white voters have the same opinions, any more than all black voters or voters from any particular ethnic group. After the pain of Namibia’s past, surely every person in Namibia has the right to be viewed as an individual rather than being judged on the basis of race,” Hancox said.
She said it was “profoundly disturbing” to hear race-based incitement from the president after Namibia has managed to hold peaceful elections since independence.
The LAC director therefore called on Geingob to retract his statements to set an example to all Namibians that “all persons are equal before the law and that no persons may be discriminated against on the grounds of race”.
“The president has taken an oath to uphold, protect and defend the Namibian Constitution and to ensure justice for all the inhabitants of the Republic of Namibia. These responsibilities must supersede any political party loyalties. This means the president may not attempt to intimidate or suppress any group of voters – regardless of what party they support,” Hancox said.
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) yesterday filed a complaint against Geingob with the Office of the Ombudsman regarding the said remarks.
PDM vice president Jennifer van den Heever said the president’s remarks were tantamount to intimidation of white Namibians and “their right to participate in political discourse”.
Self-appointed Namibian sheriff marshal Sean Naude opened a similar case against Geingob yesterday.
