Hidipo in hot water
By Asser Ntinda

SWAPO Party has instituted a N$100 million legal action against the President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress, RDP, Hidipo Hamutenya, over allegations he made at the beginning of this month at Okongo in Ohangwena Region.

SWAPO Party is demanding N$100 million in damages over allegations made by Hamutenya in which he said SWAPO Party had been “cheating and rigging elections” all those years.

Addressing an RDP rally at Okongo, Hamutenya claimed that the SWAPO Party had been “cheating to win elections all these years,” particularly “during the movement of ballot boxes from voting venues to centrally located counting points was one of the loopholes” the SWAPO Party had been “using to cheat the elections in order to win all those years.”

New Era, which published the story quoted Hamutenya as saying that it was through the “movement of ballot boxes” that the ruling parties in the SADC Region had the chance to exchange genuine ballot boxes with false ones.

In the combined summons issued this week against RDP as first respondent and against Hamutenya as second respondent, SWAPO Party said that the statements by Hamutenya were wrongful and defamatory in that they were intended and were reasonably understood by readers and those who were able to observe and listen to those allegations to defame SWAPO Party.

SWAPO Party said that Hamutenya’s statements meant that SWAPO Party had been conspiring with the Electoral Commission of Namibia, ECN, and was involved in “election fraud” against the people of Namibia.

By making those statements, Hamutenya meant that SWAPO Party was “involved in corrupt and dishonest activities; that it engages in subversive activities, it acts in total disregard for and infringes the Constitutional principles of the Republic of Namibia, that it conducts itself in an irregular and improper manner, engages in illegal activities which are not sanctioned by the laws of the Republic of Namibia, engages in activities which undermine the Government of the Republic of Namibia, and that SWAPO undermines the principles of democracy and the democratic processes in and of the Republic of Namibia.”

The summons, issued by Conradie & Damaseb Legal Practitioners, said such allegations were uttered and published by Hamutenya and RDP with the intention to defame SWAPO Party and injure its good name and reputation and with the further intention to cause wide and further publication of such statements concerning SWAPO Party.

As a result of Hamutenya’s allegations and their subsequent dissemination and extensive publication, SWAPO Party has suffered loss in the sum of N$100 million. RDP and its President should therefore pay SWAPO Party that amount with interest from the date of judgment to the date of payment.

RDP and Hamutenya should also pay SWAPO Party’s legal costs. They have 10 days upon receipt of the summons to show whether they will defend the case, and 20 days to file and serve notice of intention to defend the matter.

Hamutenya’s allegations were widely condemned by both the government and SWAPO Party. Shortly after the allegations were made, SWAPO Party Secretary General, Cde Pendukeni Iivula- Ithana, issued a strongly worded statement refuting Hamutenya’s claims.

She challenged Hamutenya to come out with concrete evidence of the cheating, adding that if he had been aware of such cheating, he should have reported those things to law enforcement agencies.

“The gravity of these allegations is so serious that they cannot remain unchallenged by any soberminded democratic person,” said Cde Iivula-Ithana. “No self-respecting person could make such unfounded allegations unless he or she is under the influence of something best known to him or herself.

“I have been in the leadership of SWAPO Party before and after independence and have attended most meetings where policy decisions were taken, but at no time have I participated, witnessed or heard plans of the topic of cheating appearing on any agenda of the SWAPO Party.

“The nature of cheating we do not know, hence Mr Hamutenya needs to provide irrefutable proof beyond any reasonable doubt of his alleged cheating. If he fails to do so, then the law enforcement agencies must call him in order to give sworn statement before them.

“Failure to do so, SWAPO Party reserves its right to seek redress before the Court of Law in this specific instance.”