Reconciliation Mustn’t Instil Fear

I WOULD like to express my personal views and experience on torture and the much talked about National Society For Human Rights’ submission to the International Criminal Court.

To start with, in early 2005 I and my pregnant wife by then, were detained and severely tortured at the hands of the Namibia security forces in Oshakati police station. I believe there is substantial and undisputable evidence of this torture.Instructions were given to “extract vital information” from us about a suspect from Windhoek they were in pursuit of.The Namibian Government, the media, NSHR, lawyers, doctors and members of the public still know about it and there are documents of this incident.Our lawsuit against the Namibian Government and its security forces is being dragged, delayed and maybe forgotten in the Namibian courts for reasons only known to them.I am sure there are more Namibians with similar torture cases against the state.We don’t have the means and capacity to present our case to the ICC.My main aim to bring this to your attention is to shed light on the submission of the NSHR.It is not entirely Phil ya Nangoloh’s personal vendetta as some put it, but it will serve as a retribution to many voiceless Namibians who simply feel being wronged before and after Independence and their cases are not addressed properly in the Namibian courts or judiciary system.If democratic principles are to prevail in Namibia, than these dictatorial, intimidatory, self-centred attitudes and primitive behaviour are to be routed out of our security forces, leaders, the entire nation including traditional people and especially the leaders.Going back into time of the liberation struggle between 1980 and 1983, my father Edward and many others died in Swapo’s infamous Lubango camps under still unexplained and suspicious conditions under Swapo’s care.There are witnesses and evidence in some of these cases.In the same period of 1980 to 1983 my elder brother Erastus and many others who were old enough to be PLAN combatants by then were murdered or simply vanished at the battlefront.And according to the information at hand, mostly due to so called “12 Rules of Plan”.I’m quite sure the top leadership knows what I’m talking about.Those rules brought the fate of so many Namibian freedom fighters at the hands of their own commanders, their names appear in the book ‘Their blood waters our freedom’.I wonder how.In the periods between 1983 to 1988 a group of Swapo children at a care centre at Kwanza Zul province in Angola were taken to Lubango and others to other countries and accused of having “a secret camp” in the mountains with the main aim to overthrow the Swapo leadership.These baseless and ridiculous allegations affected the lives of so many of them, today adults and many unemployed and without parental support in a free Namibia.Is it known? Back to the NSHR ICC submission.Those up in arms against it, let everybody know and be informed that these are the people who were either living in the luxury of Luanda, Lusaka, or somewhere abroad but had never been in the deep heat of the struggle or had families that got entangled in those sagas, Or simply gold diggers, newcomers or latecomers.If these torture attitudes are not exposed and finally routed from our society through an international body or democratic and civilised Namibia, people will eventually react.People’s anger and frustrations cannot be measured, predicted or even suppressed, Read the history books.Gross violation of human rights should be stopped at once anywhere on earth.I have no personal vendetta against anyone, but if Namibia is democratic as we all preach, than let everybody face and be answerable to charges and allegations brought against him/her under any legitimate and competent local, international laws and courts as everybody else.Remember article 27 of the statute, “all persons are equal and should be treated equally, regardless of their official capacity or national status” and this includes heroes and heroines.The solidarity, freedom, justice, peace, prosperity and stability should be enjoyed by all the people, and the policy of national reconciliation should not be used to instil fear and hold the nation hostage.Elikana Grun Nghimwena Windhoek Note: This letter has been shortened – EdI believe there is substantial and undisputable evidence of this torture.Instructions were given to “extract vital information” from us about a suspect from Windhoek they were in pursuit of.The Namibian Government, the media, NSHR, lawyers, doctors and members of the public still know about it and there are documents of this incident.Our lawsuit against the Namibian Government and its security forces is being dragged, delayed and maybe forgotten in the Namibian courts for reasons only known to them.I am sure there are more Namibians with similar torture cases against the state.We don’t have the means and capacity to present our case to the ICC.My main aim to bring this to your attention is to shed light on the submission of the NSHR.It is not entirely Phil ya Nangoloh’s personal vendetta as some put it, but it will serve as a retribution to many voiceless Namibians who simply feel being wronged before and after Independence and their cases are not addressed properly in the Namibian courts or judiciary system.If democratic principles are to prevail in Namibia, than these dictatorial, intimidatory, self-centred attitudes and primitive behaviour are to be routed out of our security forces, leaders, the entire nation including traditional people and especially the leaders.Going back into time of the liberation struggle between 1980 and 1983, my father Edward and many others died in Swapo’s infamous Lubango camps under still unexplained and suspicious conditions under Swapo’s care.There are witnesses and evidence in some of these cases.In the same period of 1980 to 1983 my elder brother Erastus and many others who were old enough to be PLAN combatants by then were murdered or simply vanished at the battlefront.And according to the information at hand, mostly due to so called “12 Rules of Plan”.I’m quite sure the top leadership knows what I’m talking about.Those rules brought the fate of so many Namibian freedom fighters at the hands of their own commanders, their names appear in the book ‘Their blood waters our freedom’.I wonder how.In the periods between 1983 to 1988 a group of Swapo children at a care centre at Kwanza Zul province in Angola were taken to Lubango and others to other countries and accused of having “a secret camp” in the mountains with the main aim to overthrow the Swapo leadership.These baseless and ridiculous allegations affected the lives of so many of them, today adults and many unemployed and without parental support in a free Namibia.Is it known? Back to the NSHR ICC submission.Those up in arms against it, let everybody know and be informed that these are the people who were either living in the luxury of Luanda, Lusaka, or somewhere abroad but had never been in the deep heat of the struggle or had families that got entangled in those sagas, Or simply gold diggers, newcomers or latecomers.If these torture attitudes are not exposed and finally routed from our society through an international body or democratic and civilised Namibia, people will eventually react.People’s anger and frustrations cannot be measured, predicted or even suppressed, Read the history books.Gross violation of human rights should be stopped at once anywhere on earth.I have no personal vendetta against anyone, but if Namibia is democratic as we all preach, than let everybody face and be answerable to charges and allegations brought against him/her under any legitimate and competent local, international laws and courts as everybody else.Remember article 27 of the statute, “all persons are equal and should be treated equally, regardless of their official capacity or national status” and this includes heroes and heroines.The solidarity, freedom, justice, peace, prosperity and stability should be enjoyed by all the people, and the policy of national reconciliation should not be used to instil
fear and hold the nation hostage.Elikana Grun Nghimwena Windhoek Note: This letter has been shortened – Ed