Soldiers run amok … savage woman in Katutura

SOLDIERS on Operation Hornkranz savagely beat up a Windhoek woman and fractured her skull at a bar in Katutura on Saturday.

Another victim, a police officer who is attached to the VIP Protection unit, was attacked at another bar in the Single Quarters area of Katutura.

The officer, who cannot be named, had his face bruised and lip cut. understands that some soldiers also attacked another person at Swakopmund.

This could, however, not be confirmed by late yesterday.

President Hage Geingob launched Operation Hornkranz in December last year comprising the police, army and members of the Men and Women’s Network to fight against crime.

The assaulted woman, Luise Mwanyangapo (31), said she will sue the soldiers for beating her unconscious for no reason and fracturing her skull.

Mwanyangapo, the 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who works as a project manager for FES Media Namibia, said the soldiers attacked them at a bar in Freedomland in Katutura, Windhoek.

She said she had stopped at the bar on her way home in Greenwell Matongo from Ludwigsdorf to pick up something from a friend when the soldiers descended on the bar, and savagely beat up the patrons.

When she saw the soldiers coming, Mwanyengapo said, she felt assured that they were patrolling the area to keep people safe. They, however, started beating up people without saying anything, as well as hurling insults at them.

“I am so traumatised. I am trying to understand why they would do that. What purpose does it serve? Were we not supposed to be there? They kicked us, and struck us with their sjamboks. I fainted after one struck me in the head,” added Mwanyangapo.

A friend then rushed her to the Katutura Intermediate Hospital, where she said no one attended to her despite being badly injured and bleeding profusely. She also slipped in and out of consciousness.

“I decided to go to the Roman Catholic Hospital since I am on medical aid. But as I left, the guard who is supposed to open the door, also assaulted me. Maybe I looked like a crazy person; I do not know, but the nurses just watched it all happen,” she added. Mwanyangapo said her friend then drove her to the Roman Catholic Hospital, where doctors found that she had a fractured skull and had lost a lot of blood.

“These people are just attacking randomly. Who gave them the green light to do this? What is it that they are hoping to achieve from this? I wonder. Do they also attack people randomly in upper-class areas? I am just trying to understand. No one spoke badly, and everyone behaved. I am going to sue them,” she reiterated.

The VIP protection unit officer said the soldiers did not ask any questions when they raided the bar.

“Those people do not listen,” he added.

Police spokesperson, chief inspector Kauna Shikwambi, said no cases had been reported yet, but she can consult all regional offices for any reports made should questions be forwarded to her.

The defence ministry’s spokesperson, Petrus Shilumbu, declined to comment on allegations of soldiers assaulting civilians without reason.

Political analyst Frederico Links said the presence of Operation Hornkranz hampers people’s rights to be outside and to associate. Links said there are more important criminals the operation could be targeting instead of focusing on innocent people.

“What is their brief? What is their mandate? It is not like we have a state of emergency. Are they intimidating people or fighting crime?” he asked.

Activist Dimbulukeni Nauyoma said he knows of more people who were assaulted by the Operation Hornkranz members.

He said the fact that they keep harassing people begs that something is done collectively by all people so the situation can be addressed.

“Soldiers are for war not to fight civilians. How long will it take before we are all beaten?” he asked.

Popular Democratic Movement’s parliamentarian Nico Smit said most men beat women to feed their inferior egos and that is why soldiers are also beating women.

“They have to prove who is the man,” he said.

Activist Job Amupanda said the soldiers should not be allowed to continue being on the street and harming innocent people.

“Is it fear that the regime has now become a vampire that desperately requires blood to live? We will be assisting the victims of the military state to ensure they are protected,” he charged.

“When you hear noise about gender-based violence from the same people who unleashed soldiers on women, know that it is just good speech that means nothing,” he said.

shadowed the operation in January this year and saw how some people provoked the officers.

The officers told the journalist that these are some of the things that cause them to end up using violence to apprehend the people.