Shebeen closures to continue: Minister

SAFETY and Security Minister Peter Tsheehama yesterday vowed that the Police would close down all unlicensed liquor outlets in Namibia despite opposition from cuca shop owners.

At the weekend, the Police fired rubber bullets and teargas when they clashed with angry shebeen owners at Omuthiya in the North. Delivering a ministerial statement in the National Assembly yesterday, Tsheehama said the Omuthiya protest had been “instigated” by two soldiers and a Police officer who were arrested and are being kept at the Ondangwa Police holding cells.They are Corporal Efraim Shimwe from the Luederitz Army Base, Private Joseph Kristof from the Rundu Army Base and Constable Paulus Shipwata.The fourth person arrested was shebeen owner Naftal Nakashwa.Shipwata is on suspension for alleged rape.”I know the issue of shebeens in this country has drawn wide interest from the public and also from some of us as politicians.We as politicians seem to forget that the Liquor Act that the Namibian Police are enforcing has been passed by us politicians in this Parliament,” Tsheehama said.He said the Police were not acting on their own when clamping down on illegal operators and would only stop if otherwise advised by Parliament which passed the law.At Omuthiya, Police were said to have injured at least 10 people.Tsheehama said two members of the public and three Police officers were slightly injured by stones during the fracas.The Omuthiya incident is said to have started when the Police instructed shebeen owners to close their bars by 22h00 on Saturday.Their first call was at the shebeen owned by NDF Corporal Shimwe who was operating after closure time.”At first attempt to arrest him, he resisted.However, the Police later managed to do so,” Tsheehama told the National Assembly.A group of bar owners allegedly encircled the Police and demanded his release but the Police managed to escape and went to a nearby filling station.While there, Tsheehama said, bar owners forcefully opened the Police van and freed Shimwe from lawful arrest.They also confronted the Police on why they wanted to close their shebeens.Tsheehama said reinforcements were sent in and the Police went back and found Shimwe still operating his shebeen.”The Police further found a large group of people shouting slogans, defying that they will not close their bars and that blood will be shed,” he said.The Minister claimed that the crowd grew and tried to encircle the Police while shouting that they would not co-operate.It was then that the Police arrested Private Joseph Kristof from the Rundu Army Base.He called for help and the crowd responded by throwing stones at the Police, according to Tsheehama.He said Police used “minimum force” to disperse the crowd – that of discharging one teargas canister and two rubber bullets.The crowd dispersed quickly but another group was spotted a few metres from there barricading the main road to Ondangwa.When they refused to make way, Police fired two more rubber bullets.”The public dispersed and the operation ceased at 00h00,” Tsheehama said.DTA MP Phillemon Moongo objected to the Police action.He charged that it was wrong to close shebeens owned by poor people.He said Government had to reconsider the action and embark on a national campaign to educate shebeen owners on how to fill in application forms.”We can’t tolerate this action,” he said amid claims by Minister of Presidential Affairs Albert Kawana that Moongo was also a shebeen owner.Deputy Speaker Doreen Sioka had to call him to order as the ministerial information statement suddenly turned into a debate.Delivering a ministerial statement in the National Assembly yesterday, Tsheehama said the Omuthiya protest had been “instigated” by two soldiers and a Police officer who were arrested and are being kept at the Ondangwa Police holding cells.They are Corporal Efraim Shimwe from the Luederitz Army Base, Private Joseph Kristof from the Rundu Army Base and Constable Paulus Shipwata.The fourth person arrested was shebeen owner Naftal Nakashwa.Shipwata is on suspension for alleged rape. “I know the issue of shebeens in this country has drawn wide interest from the public and also from some of us as politicians.We as politicians seem to forget that the Liquor Act that the Namibian Police are enforcing has been passed by us politicians in this Parliament,” Tsheehama said.He said the Police were not acting on their own when clamping down on illegal operators and would only stop if otherwise advised by Parliament which passed the law.At Omuthiya, Police were said to have injured at least 10 people.Tsheehama said two members of the public and three Police officers were slightly injured by stones during the fracas.The Omuthiya incident is said to have started when the Police instructed shebeen owners to close their bars by 22h00 on Saturday.Their first call was at the shebeen owned by NDF Corporal Shimwe who was operating after closure time.”At first attempt to arrest him, he resisted.However, the Police later managed to do so,” Tsheehama told the National Assembly.A group of bar owners allegedly encircled the Police and demanded his release but the Police managed to escape and went to a nearby filling station.While there, Tsheehama said, bar owners forcefully opened the Police van and freed Shimwe from lawful arrest.They also confronted the Police on why they wanted to close their shebeens.Tsheehama said reinforcements were sent in and the Police went back and found Shimwe still operating his shebeen.”The Police further found a large group of people shouting slogans, defying that they will not close their bars and that blood will be shed,” he said.The Minister claimed that the crowd grew and tried to encircle the Police while shouting that they would not co-operate.It was then that the Police arrested Private Joseph Kristof from the Rundu Army Base.He called for help and the crowd responded by throwing stones at the Police, according to Tsheehama.He said Police used “minimum force” to disperse the crowd – that of discharging one teargas canister and two rubber bullets.The crowd dispersed quickly but another group was spotted a few metres from there barricading the main road to Ondangwa.When they refused to make way, Police fired two more rubber bullets.”The public dispersed and the operation ceased at 00h00,” Tsheehama said.DTA MP Phillemon Moongo objected to the Police action.He charged that it was wrong to close shebeens owned by poor people.He said Government had to reconsider the action and embark on a national campaign to educate shebeen owners on how to fill in application forms.”We can’t tolerate this action,” he said amid claims by Minister of Presidential Affairs Albert Kawana that Moongo was also a shebeen owner.Deputy Speaker Doreen Sioka had to call him to order as the ministerial information statement suddenly turned into a debate.