Namibians march in support of human rights

Representatives of Namibia’s civic organisations marched through the capital Windhoek on Saturday as a left-wing African American group added its voice to mounting criticism against the Nujoma government’s attacks on the judiciary, gays, whites and foreigners, South Africa’s ‘Sunday Independent’ reported. According to the report, the Namibian government responded to the growing chorus of unhappiness, which includes criticism by foreign embassies, by telling the West to keep out of Namibia’s internal affairs. The Southern African Human Rights NGO Network (Sahringon), an umbrella organisation, held the demonstration to “take a public stand” because of recent “attacks on human rights”, national co-ordinator Jotham Rwamiheto was quoted as saying in the report. He said the march was “the first step”. “When democracy is in danger, it affects everybody. As civil society we feel we have a role to play in maintaining democracy, peace and stability,” he was quoted as saying. Sahringon said in a statement that the attacks consisted of calls to dismiss judges, a ban on government advertising in the independent ‘Namibian’ newspaper and the call to purge homosexuals. It also cited calls to stop teaching Afrikaans, calls to Namibians to stop marrying foreigners, labelling white Namibians as racists and colonialists and President Sam Nujoma’s first public statement that he was ready to stay in office after his current term had ended. “The policy of reconciliation is being replaced by a policy of confrontation and outright disregard for the democratic constitution and institutions of this country,” the statement said. The Black Radical Congress, based at Columbia University in New York also criticised Nujoma’s attacks on gays and lesbians. “Given that he is a former freedom fighter and a head of state, Nujoma’s homophobic, discriminatory actions are particularly repugnant. His actions and rhetoric come on the heels of similar rhetoric and repression in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe has campaigned to imprison and expel same-gender loving people. “Mugabe and Nujoma have equated homosexuality with bestiality and even murder, and have called for the eradication of homosexuality from the face of the earth. These threatening pronouncements signal that a new wave of genocidal crimes against gays and lesbians in Africa could be in the making,” they said in a statement.