An urgent application to evict a group of people who have been camping at Swapo’s national headquarters in Windhoek since last October is scheduled to be heard in the Windhoek High Court next Friday.
The hearing of the urgent application was postponed by judge Gabriel Komboni yesterday, to give the respondents in the matter time to get legal representation and file documents with the court to answer to a sworn statement by Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa.
Komboni postponed the hearing after a representative of a group of 50 people cited as respondents in the matter, Matheus Nangolo, asked the judge to postpone the party’s urgent application for three months to give the group time to find a legal representative.
With the party’s lawyer in the matter, Mathias Kashindi, objecting to a postponement of three months, Komboni rescheduled the hearing of the application for 27 March.
Swapo is asking the court to declare the “unauthorised occupation” of its premises and a pavement area at the party’s national headquarters in Windhoek as unlawful.
The party is also asking the court to issue an order for the eviction of people who have been camping at its headquarters since last October and an order that the campers should remove their camping material and vacate the party’s premises.
A group of demonstrators has been camping at the Swapo headquarters since 22 October, Shaningwa says in an affidavit filed with the court.
She informed the court that the demonstrators are insisting they will stay put until their demands have been met or questions about financial assistance alleged to have been given for the repatriation of exiled Namibians in 1989 have been answered.
According to Shaningwa, the demonstrators have been demanding clarity about what happened to funds allegedly given by the United Nations (UN) to Swapo to be distributed among Namibians who returned from exile at the end of Namibia’s national liberation struggle.
Shaningwa states in her affidavit: “It must be noted that the demonstrators, however, have never disclosed the sources of their information as to who informed them about the existence of funds allegedly given to Swapo by the UN.”
She also informed the court that a meeting between herself, the demonstrators, government representatives and representatives of the UN in Namibia took place on 17 January.
During that meeting, a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) informed the group camping at the Swapo headquarters that the UNHCR provided basic assistance to support the initial reintegration of Namibian returnees in 1989, that available donor funds were fully utilised and accounted for, and that no earmarked funds were retained by the UNHCR in Namibia, Shangingwa recounts in her statement.
She also says the demonstrators stated previously that they would vacate the premises at the Swapo headquarters once they had had a meeting with the party’s leadership.
After the meeting on 17 January, she notified the group camping at the party’s head office that they had to vacate the premises by 20 January, but that date passed with the demonstrators remaining put, Shaningwa says.
The demonstrators’ continued presence is “a huge inconvenience and annoyance” to Swapo, its members and visitors to the party’s headquarters, Shaningwa says as well.
Swapo’s politburo discussed the situation on 2 February and decided to direct the party’s department of political affairs to obtain an eviction order against the group, Shaningwa informed the court.
The politburo took that decision after noting that the inauguration of the party’s new national headquarters is set to take place on 19 April.
“Such preparations and event will be in serious jeopardy if the demonstrators remain at the premises,” according to Shaningwa.
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