Roland Routh
Windhoek High Court acting judge Collins Parker granted police chief, Joseph Shikongo, an interdict to stop social activist and politician Michael Amushelelo from distributing, orally or in writing utterances that are deemed defamatory.
In the interdict granted on Wednesday, Justice Parker also granted Shikongo costs. The interdict follows a lawsuit Shikongo lodged through his lawyer, Nambili Mhata, for N$1 million to increase to N$1.2 million, in the event that Amushelelo does not adhere to a demand by the police chief to unreservedly apologise and remove all posts about Shikongo from his social media accounts.
The firebrand politician, who also faces fraud and money laundering cases, however, steadfastly refused to give in to the demands.
Yesterday, he posted on New Era’s social media page that he does not fear the courts, nor does he fear Shikongo. He reiterated his stance that Shikongo should be arrested and face the courts like an ordinary citizen.
“Even if he wins his million-dollar lawsuit, I will pay him N$0.05 every two months,” Amushelelo stated.
Judge Parker declined to proceed with an application for default judgment Shikongo instituted and postponed the matter to 26 June for a case management conference on the lawsuit.
Shikongo claims that the utterances by Amushelelo are not only false, but their insinuations, suggestions, innuendos concerning Shikongo are in their ordinary meaning, are wrongfully malicious and designed to infringe on Shikongo’s reputation.
He also claimed the utterances infringe upon his reputation, dignity, his person, self-worth and good name by implying that he clandestinely tempered with the investigations or gave instructions to temper with the investigations at the scene of the unfortunate car accident in was involved in.
Furthermore, Shikongo said, the posts suggests that he is a thug who has no respect for the law and will stop at nothing to break the law, and he is therefore not fit and proper to be the inspector general of the Namibian Police Force. The police chief claims the posts also insinuate he has no respect for adherence to proper procedure in the concerned investigations and that he is corrupt and unfit the hold the position he is in.
Shikongo also claims the posts allege that he has given instructions for Amushelelo to be killed and that he is a killer.
According to documents filed in court, the posts which were published on Amushelelo’s social media accounts on 9 February this year, wrongfully, intentionally and unlawfully allege Shikongo is abusing his office and is ordering the police to kill him (Amushelelo) .
This post is careless, scandalous, extreme, and made with the sole intention to unfairly subject Shikongo to the court of public opinion and to lower his esteem in the eyes of right-thinking members of the community in Namibia, the police chief claims.
As a result of the postings and regard to the circumstances of the matter Shikongo has suffered damages to his dignity and self-worth in the amount of N$1 million, the lawsuit states.
Amushelelo has indicated that he will defend the lawsuit and vowed that he will never delete anything about Shikongo from his social media accounts.
The posts are in relation to a fatal accident Shikongo was involved in that claimed the lives of three young Namibians.
-rrouth@nepc.com.na