Namibian Police commissioner Andreas Nelumbu and the safety ministry are trying to reach an amicable solution after he sued his employer for accusing him of having a hand in the missing guns and ammunition from the police warehouse last year.
Nelumbu is demanding N$2 million for the violation of his dignity and of his privacy through search warrants and allegations against him.
In documents filed in the Windhoek High Court, Nelumbu claims that on 26 September 2022, eight police officers came to his private residence in Suiderhof, Windhoek with a search warrant which was executed.
On 28 September 2022, another search was carried out at his village home in Ondjodjo, Okatana constituency, Oshana region. A third search was carried out at his farm in Mpungu constituency, Kavango West the following day.
He says after all the searches conducted, no firearm, ammunition, or police items were found on his properties.
But he was internally arraigned on charges of theft, using his office for gratification, and failing to conduct a regular inspection at the Namibian Police Logistics Management Division’s strong room, bunkers armoury, and workshop.
Documents state his employer is claiming the lost firearms and ammunition are valued at N$3.6 million. Other items that went missing and were valued at N$675 903 include tents, police uniforms, generators, binoculars, torches, steel trunks, and police cell mats.
“…these search warrants were maliciously obtained with no probable and justifiable cause for seeking such warrants… the four charges against (the plaintiff) and warning statement were ill-advised, preposterous and amount to witch-hunt and victimisation of the plaintiff,” reads Nelumbu’s particulars of claim.
Nelumbu claims that since he took over the position of head of the directorate of logistics and procurement, there have been regular and annual inspections of all the police’s properties and assets. This he said, has resulted in the police not receiving a qualified audit report for 11 years.
“It is apparent, there is no reasonable ground for suspicion that the plaintiff committed any crime in respect of any missing firearm and ammunition,” said Nelumbu.
He said he has served the Namibian Police for nearly three decades without any record of misconduct and is regarded to be an honourable man and a model citizen.
He said the actions of his employer have tarnished his good name and reputation as they were deliberately calculated to persecute, harass and victimise him.
In their pleas, the safety ministry and inspector general indicated that investigations are still ongoing and are being carried out because the plaintiff is the head of the division from which police property went missing.
“It was discovered that the implicated suspects were working under the plaintiff and the plaintiff failed to exercise his functions in that respect diligently; which resulted in his negligent loss of the firearms and other Namibian Police equipment and properties,” reads the plea.
The police claim the evidence obtained from various witnesses further implicated Nelumbu who was linked to some unauthorised and/or illegally obtained and missing police property, which is still the subject of the ongoing investigations.
Furthermore, the investigation revealed that the firearms and equipment in question are suspected to have gone missing and unaccounted for during the period from July 2013 to November 2021 in spite of Nelumbu’s ‘regular reports’ to the Treasury.
“The defendants’ members had reasonable suspicion and had gathered sufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution of the plaintiff and/or a departmental charge of which is to be reflected by the eventual decision to set the law in motion; all this was therefore warranted, justified and done well within their rights to do so,” reads the plea.
The investigations have since resulted in the arrest of police officers Loini Shoondi, Kavari Mutuari, Fredericks Vilonel, Laban Hoveka Uaundjua, and Halwoodi Paulus.
The suit, which was in court yesterday, was postponed to 21 July for mediation by deputy judge president Hosea Angula.
Nelumbu is also suing New Era Publication Corporation and its daily newspaper, New Era for N$300 000.
In this suit, Nelumbu claims the newspaper in an article it carried on 27 September 2022 titled ‘Top cops plot thickens’, painted him as a corrupt, dishonest, untrustworthy, and enfant terrible person.
He claims statements such as “one of the police’s alleged enfants terribles is head of logistics Andreas Nelumbu, who allegedly stole a power generator and has been using a police vehicle on his private farm in northern Namibia, charges that were allegedly swept under the rug under Ndeitunga’s stewardship. “Ndeitunga, it is alleged, knew about the thievery but turned a blind eye” and “It is under his watch that 90 firearms and ammunition from the police depot in Windhoek vanished into thin air, without a trace” are defamatory.
“The abovementioned defamatory statements and/or words, without any truth therein, were undoubtedly published wrongfully and unlawfully with the sole intention to tarnish the plaintiff’s good name, reputation, and human dignity and thereby lower his self-esteem in the eyes of the right-thinking members of the Namibian community and abroad,” said Nelumbu his court papers.
In addition to the payment he seeks, Nelumbu wants the court to order the newspaper to retract the story and tender a public apology.
This case will be back in court for case management on 3 August.
In November 2021 the then police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga said it was embarrassing that guns could go missing from the Windhoek Central Depot. Various media reports locally and in South Africa alleged that the stolen police weapons might have ended on the streets of Cape Town where bloody gang battles have been ravaging for years.
-mamakali@nepc.com.na