…white lawyers normally collude with white magistrates or prosecutors to release the offenders
By Mbatjiua Ngavirue
GOBABIS
The assault of a black security guard at an apparently whites-only private club at the Gobabis Show Grounds highlights that 17 years after independence, race relations at the town are still tense.
The security guard was carrying out officially assigned duties at the Show Grounds at 01h30 on Saturday morning when he stumbled on some drunken white revellers.
After asking security guard Johannes Nangombe of Sila Security what he was looking for, they allegedly proceeded to viciously assault and rob him.
Gobabis police station commander Petrus Swartz yesterday said police arrested three white suspects.
They spent a few hours in jail before a black prosecutor released them on bail around mid-morning.
Gobabis Mayor Platini Katjaoha said the fact they spent any time in jail at all is unusual for Gobabis.
According to Katjaoha, the time-honoured tradition in Gobabis is that the authorities normally never lock up whites for such offences.
The normal procedure, he said, is that white lawyers normally collude with white magistrates or prosecutors to release the offenders on bail even in the dead of night.
“They continue to do it because they get away with it, sometimes they get bail overnight without spending a single night in jail,” he said.
They usually go home free as larks to round off the night with another few tots of Klipdrift before retiring quietly to the comfort of their own beds.
The three suspects, Deon van Niekerk, Leon Human and Clifford Cochran made a brief court appearance on Monday morning where a magistrate granted them bail of N$700 each.
They appeared on five separate charges including assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, assault through threats, and malicious damage to property, cell phone theft and racial discrimination.
In most incidents, the cases never reach trial because the parties usually reach out-of-court settlements.
This is despite the fact that out-of-court settlements are not supposed to be an option in criminal cases brought by the State.
According to well-informed local sources, there are already indications that the suspects are negotiating a cash settlement in the Nangombe case.
Gobabis is legendary for poor race relations, particularly before independence but even in the immediate years thereafter.
Mayor Katjaoha recalls at least 10 such post-independence incidents, including cases where louts roughed up senior government officials.
The incidents he said – which normally occurred when blacks entered hotels late in the evening – were evidence of strained race relations at the town.
Whites often ask black patrons entering hotels late in the evening bizarre questions such as, “What are you doing here kaffir?”
“There are those whites that have accepted change and want harmonious relations, but there are those conservative ones who still promote racial conflict,” he said.
He also sharply criticised the tendency of the white community in Gobabis to isolate itself in a sterile racial ghetto.
National days such as Independence Day usually saw poor turnout by the white community.
Residents normally packed the halls when the City Council held Community meetings in Epako or Nossobville.
When the Council held similar meetings in town – where white residents are in the majority – only three or four whites with specific issues to raise would attend.
“People must start to realise that in an independent country, there is no going back to the past. We have to adapt to change and accept each other, and know we have a common obligation to develop our town,” Katjaoha said.