Unmasked
- Grobler tells High Court that 'I am Jonathan Cobra'

By Asser Ntinda


After playing the 'hide and seek' game for several years while insulting and ridiculing SWAPO Party leaders using a pseudo name 'Jonathan Cobra,' John Grobler found himself cornered in the High Court earlier this month and had no exit door but to admit under oath that he was indeed the dreaded 'Jonathan Cobra' Namibians had come to know.

The admission came during the hearing of a court case in which Grobler had sued SWAPO Party and its Secretary General, Cde Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana. The court case stems from a piece posted on SWAPO Party website by an unknown public user, who alleged that Grobler was a "Koevoet soldier (ekakunya)" who committed "untold atrocities" against the Namibian people.

In his claim, Grobler stated that such an allegation was "defamatory and libelous," claiming that he had lost business opportunities as a result of the publication of the said allegation, and therefore wanted SWAPO Party to pay him N$300 000 in damages caused by the allegation. Grobler said that he did not serve in Koevoet, he only served in the South West Africa Territory Force, SWATF.

SWAPO Party vehemently defended its position, saying that there was no difference between Koevoet and SWATF, as they both served the same apartheid regime which killed many innocent civilians whose only crime was to fight for Namibia's independence.

Cde Ivula-Ithana was unmoved by Grobler's claims and told the High Court that had Grobler told the High Court that he never served in any of the South African killing machines, she would not have hesitated to apologize on behalf of SWAPO Party. But with the admission in court that Grobler served in SWATF, he "was part and parcel of the killing" machine.

"For me and for SWAPO Party, there was no difference between Koevoet and SWATF," she told the High Court. "The enemy which SWAPO and its military wing, the People's Liberation Army of Namibia, PLAN, fought against was the South African apartheid regime and its instruments of repression. These instruments were the military and the police.

"Grobler served in one of these instruments. For me, the difference between SWATF and Koevoet is cosmetic. These were all instruments of occupation. Grobler was part and parcel of that agency called to Namibia to kill the terrorists. Why was he armed? He was armed to kill 'terrorists.'

"Grobler served as one of those instruments of murder in Namibia. The remarks made about him in the article were correct. This man simply dropped the gun after independence and continued to wage the war against SWAPO Party and its leadership, using the typewriter and the pen."

She was referring to several insulting and defamatory articles which John wrote under the pseudo name 'Jonathan Cobra.' The articles appeared in the Windhoek Observer when it was owned and published by the late Hannes Smith. Cde Iivula-Ithana said that Grobler was being provocative and insulting through those articles. In one of those articles, Grobler alleged that Founding President Sam Nujoma had a " love affair" with Deputy Minister of Health and Social Services, Cde Petrina Haingura.

Under cross-examination, Grobler, having admitted that he was 'Jonathan Cobra,' told the High Court that he was simply "entertaining people" with his writing.

Cde Iivula-Ithana did not take that remark lightly: "This country is not inhabited by imbeciles. Namibians are intelligent enough to know the difference between an entertaining and an insulting article. To make such serious allegations and claim later that they were meant for entertainment is insulting the intelligence of the Namibian people."

Grobler had several "expert witnesses" who were wheeled on to draw the "difference" between Koevoet and SWATF in Grobler's favour. One of them was none other than Phil ya Nangoloh, Executive Director of NamRights. But shortly after entering the witness box for cross examination, Ya Nangoloh found himself contradicting reports and publications he had earlier published and what he was telling the court that day. He said that Koevoet was a "killer unit," whereas SWATF was a "proper military unit with rules." He said the two could not be compared and never fought together.

But in 2008, Ya Nangoloh published a report titled "Enforced Disappearances: Discovery of No Name Gravesites," in which he said that before independence "SWATF and Koevoet soldiers fought alongside the South African Defence Force, SADF," explicitly implying that they committed similar atrocities.

When Advocate Gerson Narib, who represented SWAPO Party, pointed out to him to tell the High Court the difference between what he was telling the court and what he had said earlier in that report, Ya Nangoloh found himself backpedaling. "No, no, I did not mean they fought shoulder to shoulder, I meant they were on the same side."

"But you said they fought alongside, and alongside means they fought together as units," remarked Advocate Narib. "No, no, I did not mean that," answered Ya Nangoloh. "It's here in the report," hit back Advocate Narib.

One of the chilling differences Ya Nangoloh drew between Koevoet and SWATF would have NAMPOL's top officials' heads spinning. He told the court under oath that "Koevoet was like the Special Field Force in the Namibian Police today." Few people would appreciate Nampol's Special Field Force members being compared with the notorious and killer unit Koevoet.

The case was postponed to 29 February for oral arguments. Acting High Court Judge, Kubus Miller, is presiding over the case. John Grobler was unmasked by Namibia Today in February 2007 as Jonathan Cobra, when he wrote a story which appeared in The Windhoek Observer of February, 3, 2007, which suggested that Founding President Nujoma was "strategizing" to make a "come-back" as the next President.

The Windhoek Observer' story was written by Jonathan Cobra. The same story, however, appeared in the South African Mail and Guardian on February 2, 2007, with minor changes here and there, but exactly the same story. In fact, some paragraphs never changed at all.

When Namibia Today contacted him to confirm or deny that he was 'Jonathan Cobra,' Grobler was evasive, asking why Namibia Today wanted to find out. His admission in the High Court this month was the first time he had ever admitted that he was indeed Jonathan Cobra.