Some light shed on mystery ballot boxes

THE shroud of mystery over several ballot boxes of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) found in a storeroom of the Windhoek Central Police station was lifted slightly yesterday when The Namibian learnt they were apparently used by the ruling Swapo party’s Elders’ Council during a congress.

‘We established that members of the Swapo Elders’ Council asked Police to store the ballot boxes for them, which they borrowed from the ECN,’ Deputy Commissioner Hophni Hamufungu of the Police Public Relations Division told The Namibian yesterday. ‘The Elders’ Council apparently did not have storage space. It appears they said at that time they would pick them up again but they never did.’The Namibian published a story on Tuesday with photos of the ballot boxes in question obtained by the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR). The last Swapo Elders’ Council election took place at the end of September 2007. Elders’ Council Secretary Kanana Hishoono received 96 votes then and the other candidate, John Otto Nankudhu, collected 94 votes. Eleven of the 250 ballots were spoilt. An official at the ECN, Theo Mujoro, said yesterday that the commission kept records and lists of all its ballot boxes, which are usually numbered. Asked why the ECN did not request the boxes to be returned, Mujoro said: ‘We are checking our records now and also the correspondence on who borrowed what (boxes).’’We are also checking with our (ECN) colleagues at the logistics division and we will soon come up with the answer,’ Mujoro told The Namibian.The Namibian tried to reach Hishoono yesterday, but he was not in his office. Meanwhile, the main opposition party Congress of Democrats has demanded that the discovery of the boxes at the Police station be investigated ‘and the true facts behind [it] revealed’.’There should be clarity on how those ballot boxes eventually ended up there after whatever reason they were used for and why they were not with their rightful owners, the ECN,’ said Natji Tjirera, CoD spokesperson. ‘It has been apparent for some time now, since the puzzlement in 2004, when election material was found burnt outside Okahandja, that the ECN seems not to be in control of election-related material. This makes the credibility of the ECN questionable,’ Tjirera said.’We have for long suspected elections in this country are being rigged and the fact that ballot boxes end up in places where they do not belong raises more questions than answers.’CoD is totally opposed to election material being handled and manipulated by the Namibian Police. We appeal to the ECN to ensure the total security of ECN material.’