Fear after Nujoma’s gay bashing tirade

Namibian President Sam Nujoma’s attack on homosexuals on Monday could lead to violence against innocent citizens, the country’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has warned. According to news reports, Nujoma told students at the University of Namibia that “Namibia does not allow homosexuality and lesbianism here”. “Police are ordered to arrest you, and deport you and imprison you,” he was quoted as saying. Presidential spokesman Isaac Kaulange refused to discuss Nujoma’s statements with IRIN on Wednesday, saying that the country’s independence day celebrations should be respected and that the presidency should be contacted for comment on Thursday. NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh, however, said that the statements were worrying because Nujoma, as president, was supposed to be the prime custodian of the country’s constitution, which outlawed discrimination on any grounds. ya Nangoloh said Nujoma’s statements were not surprising because he and other members of his government had made anti-gay comments in the past. “The only logical explanation we can provide for Nujoma’s comments is that it is a diversionary tactic aimed at taking public attention away from burning issues like unemployment and other social ills in this country - things like Namibia’s involvement in foreign wars (in the DRC and in Angola),” he added. ya Nangoloh said that the most outrageous remark Nujoma had made regarding homosexuality was in December 1996, when he told a ruling SWAPO women’s council meeting in Gobabis, about 200 km east of Windhoek, that gay people were “un-African and unnatural”. This was followed by another public attack at a colleagues’ funeral in 1999, after which Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo stated that police were issued with orders to eliminate all gays and lesbians. Several people were attacked as a result, ya Nangoloh said. “We can not pretend that gays or lesbianism was imported by Europeans. It is African. I know that in my own language (Ovambo) there is a word, ‘Eshenge’, for a gay person. We would not have a word for it if it was imported,” he added.