Nujoma can have his day in court

LAWYERS for The Namibian have filed notice of intention to defend in response to a summons served on the newspaper by former President Sam Nujoma, and so the Swapo President can have his day in court.

Nujoma is suing The Namibian for N$5 million. He claims that the newspaper implied he was a corrupt leader because it reported on an affidavit submitted to the High Court during last year’s Avid-SSC inquiry.In the summons, lawyers for Nujoma, Sisa Namandje & Co, claim that in a report published on August 10 2005, headlined ‘Nujoma named in Avid Scandal’, The Namibian alleged that he had abused his position as head of state to advance personal financial interests; that he was a corrupt leader; that he wanted to conceal his corrupt dealings in Avid and State entities such as the Social Security Commission; and that he was a person of low moral scruple.The report, written by senior journalist Werner Menges, quoted from an affidavit submitted to a Companies Act hearing by Avril Green, former manager at the Social Security Commission (SSC).The inquiry was set up to probe an abortive N$30 million investment the SSC made with greenhorn investment company, Avid.The Green affidavit forms the basis of the President’s action against The Namibian.It alleged that the SSC man had been approached by Ralph Blaauw, former Swapo MP and acting Secretary General of the National Youth Council on January 3 last year.Blaauw had reportedly told Green that 80 per cent of the shares in Avid were owned by the Swapo Youth League, which resorted under the President of Namibia.”He [Blaauw] also told me that the President had a share in the company but that it would not be disclosed anywhere,” Green said in the affidavit.This allegation was widely published both in Namibia and abroad.Meanwhile, organisations including the Media Institute of Namibia (Misa) and the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) have slammed the Nujoma lawsuit, viewing the act as “intimidation”.Misa said that The Namibian had merely been “reporting on information already in the public domain; information that was made available in a public hearing and which is contained in a sworn affidavit that was filed with the court”.He claims that the newspaper implied he was a corrupt leader because it reported on an affidavit submitted to the High Court during last year’s Avid-SSC inquiry.In the summons, lawyers for Nujoma, Sisa Namandje & Co, claim that in a report published on August 10 2005, headlined ‘Nujoma named in Avid Scandal’, The Namibian alleged that he had abused his position as head of state to advance personal financial interests; that he was a corrupt leader; that he wanted to conceal his corrupt dealings in Avid and State entities such as the Social Security Commission; and that he was a person of low moral scruple.The report, written by senior journalist Werner Menges, quoted from an affidavit submitted to a Companies Act hearing by Avril Green, former manager at the Social Security Commission (SSC).The inquiry was set up to probe an abortive N$30 million investment the SSC made with greenhorn investment company, Avid.The Green affidavit forms the basis of the President’s action against The Namibian.It alleged that the SSC man had been approached by Ralph Blaauw, former Swapo MP and acting Secretary General of the National Youth Council on January 3 last year.Blaauw had reportedly told Green that 80 per cent of the shares in Avid were owned by the Swapo Youth League, which resorted under the President of Namibia.”He [Blaauw] also told me that the President had a share in the company but that it would not be disclosed anywhere,” Green said in the affidavit.This allegation was widely published both in Namibia and abroad.Meanwhile, organisations including the Media Institute of Namibia (Misa) and the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) have slammed the Nujoma lawsuit, viewing the act as “intimidation”.Misa said that The Namibian had merely been “reporting on information already in the public domain; information that was made available in a public hearing and which is contained in a sworn affidavit that was filed with the court”.