Seven guilty of treason in Caprivi secession case

A plot to secede the former Caprivi region from Namibia more than 20 years ago has left seven men convicted of high treason and other charges for a second time.

In a judgement delivered in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility yesterday, acting judge Petrus Unengu concluded that it was proven during the seven men’s retrial, which started in June 2014, that they took part in the activities of a separatist organisation in the Zambezi region from September 1998 to December 2003.

They were involved in plans to take up arms against the government in the Zambezi region, then known as the Caprivi region, which they did not consider to be part of Namibia, Unengu found.

The accused had a duty to report the activities of a separatist organisation in the region to the authorities, but failed to do so because they themselves took part in those activities or associated themselves with it, Unengu also found.

He stated: “It is clear from the evidence that all the accused now before court and others who are not part of these proceedings agreed or connived to fight the legitimate government, which they regarded as an intruder in their perceived country.”

The seven accused are Progress Munuma, Shine Samulandela, Manuel Makendano, Alex Mushakwa, Frederick Ntambilwa, Hoster Ntombo and John Tembwe.

Unengu found them guilty on charges of high treason, the unauthorised importation of weapons into Namibia and the supply and possession of weapons, unlawful possession of ammunition and contraventions of Namibia’s immigration legislation.

“It is apparent from the evidence as a whole that all participated actively in one or another way in furthering the goal of seceding the eastern Caprivi region from the rest of Namibia,” Unengu recounted in his judgement.

“Therefore, in achieving that goal, they crossed the borders of Namibia at undesignated and ungazetted ports of entry into Zambia and Botswana and back to procure weapons and brought into Namibia various types of arms and ammunition illegally,” the judge said.

The seven men, together with five co-accused, went through a first trial in the High Court between 2005 and 2007. That trial ended with 10 of them being convicted of high treason and sentenced to prison terms of either 30 or 32 years each in August 2007.
The Supreme Court set aside their convictions and sent their case back to the High Court for a retrial in July 2013, after finding that the judge who presided over the first trial should have recused himself from the matter when he was asked to do so following his dismissal of a jurisdiction challenge raised by the accused.

In the trial before Unengu, the accused raised the same jurisdiction challenge – again without success – and then raised a special plea, based on claims that the Zambezi region is not legally part of the territory of Namibia.

Unengu rejected that special plea in April 2018.

In plea explanations given to the court during their retrial, Munuma, Samulandela, Makendano, Mushakwa and Ntombo claimed they are not Namibian citizens.

However, Unengu said this issue has been decided in the past by the Supreme Court, which stated that all of the accused are Namibian citizens.

The seven accused have to return to court on 19 August for a presentence hearing.

Tembwe and Ntombo have been held in custody since September 2002, when they were arrested.

Ntambilwa was arrested in July 2002 and has also been held in custody since then, while Munuma, Samulandela, Makendano and Mushakwa have been in custody since December 2003, when they were arrested.

Deputy prosecutor general Lourens Campher is representing the state. Defence lawyer Ilse Agenbach is representing Munuma, Samulandela, Makendano, Mushakwa and Ntombo.

Ntambilwa and Tembwe are represented by defence lawyer Jorge Neves.