Ren-Form says Nekundi was rude, disorderly, highly aggressive during warehouse visit

The South African outfit that printed Namibia’s elections ballot papers say transport deputy minister Veikko Nekundi was rude and showed “aggressive behaviour” during the visit to a warehouse in South Africa.

The Namibian obtained footage which shows Swapo observer Nekundi on video pushing Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) commissioner Pius Iikwambi during a ballot paper observation trip in Johannesburg.

Nekundi has confirmed the incident but shifted blame to Ren-Form and Iikwambi.

Ren-Form told The Namibian late on Tuesday that the incident occurred as a result of the behaviour of Nekundi, who was rude and highly aggressive.

“When his questions and demands were not acceded to, he became rude, disorderly and most aggressive, declaring the person who was guiding the party through the production area as racist and causing a significant disturbance in the production facility,” Ren-Form legal presentative Tshepo Mathopo said.

Mathopo said when the ECN commissioner attempted to calm the situation, he also received verbal abuse and was ultimately pushed backwards by Nekundi.

Mathopo added that the incident was most unfortunate, and said in reality, it occurred because Nekundi was frustrated that he could not control the situation as he had wanted.

“This behaviour cannot be tolerated on the production floor; apart from disrupting production, it is also a safety hazard,” he said.

Mathopo added: “Ren-Form acted appropriately and in a responsible manner and requested the delegates to temporarily leave the premises to calm the situation and minimise disruptions. The delegates were shortly thereafter allowed to return to the premises.”

Nekundi blamed the altercation on both Ren-Form and Iikwambi.

“The company refused to answer our queries on the so-called power failure at the warehouse and some ballot papers we discovered somewhere. Upon enquiry, the international business development executive of Ren-Form wanted to chase us out of the premises to which we refused,” he told The Namibian on Tuesday from South Africa.

Nekundi said it must be understood and appreciated that elections are critical for Namibian democracy and the transparency of the process is paramount.

“Therefore, as observers, including myself, the incident happened in our pursuit to ensure that the process is indeed transparent and absolute integrity is not compromised throughout the entire process,” he said.