Activists in custody before police car was damaged

Activists Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and Michael Amushelelo were already in police custody when a window of a police car was broken, allegedly by people who had gathered for a public protest about unemployment, in Windhoek on 21 March this year.

This is according to testimony given by a senior police officer on the first day of the two activists’ trial in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura on Friday.

The police’s crime investigation coordinator in the Khomas region, deputy commissioner Chrispin Mubebo, told magistrate Linus Samunzala that when a group of protesters who had been led by Nauyoma and Amushelelo damaged a police car, the two activists were in another police vehicle at the same scene, having been taken into custody at that stage.

Although Nauyoma and Amushelelo were in the hands of the police when the police car was damaged, they had to be held accountable for the actions of the protesters they had been leading, Mubebo said.

Nauyoma and Amushelelo denied guilt on charges of public violence, malicious damage to property and incitement of public violence when their trial started on Friday.

Before they were asked to plead on the three counts, public prosecutor Tatelo Lusepani informed the court that the state was withdrawing charges against Popular Democratic Movement National Assembly member Inna Hengari, who was jointly charged with Nauyoma and Amushelelo.

Hengari was also arrested on 21 March, and was held in custody for three days before she was granted bail in an amount of N$5 000.

Nauyoma, Amushelelo and Hengari were arrested after the police prohibited a planned demonstration about unemployment in Namibia from going ahead.

Mubebo told the magistrate he informed the two activists, after he had found them with a group of more than 200 would-be protesters at Katutura, that the group had to disperse within five minutes.

He said he also told them the people in the group should return to their homes individually, and not move in one group.

However, when the protesters left the place where they had gathered, they moved in a group, with Nauyoma and Amushelelo accompanying them, Mubebo said.

He added that the group blocked the streets along which they were moving and disrupted traffic.

In the Dolam area of Katutura, Mubebo said, the police took Nauyoma and Amushelelo into custody.

He said at that point it appeared that the other protesters wanted to surround the police officers who had taken the two men into custody, and the officers then decided to leave the scene.

At that stage, a police car was damaged when someone threw a stone at it, shattering its rear window, Mubebo said.

He said the group, which initially had been willing to listen to the police and to their leaders, became aggressive when Nauyoma and Amushelelo were taken into custody.

Another police officer, deputy commissioner Erwin Nakale, who is attached to the Special Reserve Force, testified that after the protesters had been walking in a group along streets at Katutura, they began to throw stones and were shouting at police officers when they were ordered to disperse.

Because the protesters were violent, the police responded by firing plastic shots, Nakale said.
He also said he did not see Nauyoma and Amushelelo at the scene where the protesters were shouting and throwing stones at police officers.

The trial is scheduled to continue on 12 September.

Amushelelo, who has been held in custody since his arrest, is being represented by defence lawyer Sherrow Malumbano.

Defence lawyer Samuel Kadhila is representing Nauyoma, who was released on bail in an amount of N$5 000 after about two weeks in custody.