Maihapa Ndjavera
By the end of last month, over 300 000 warrants of arrest for traffic offenders were still to be executed.
Economic hardships, amongst other factors, forced the Namibian Police to come up with an amnesty from 1 November 2022 to 31 January 2023. Consumers tightened their belts during the last couple of years due to the impact of Covid-19, coupled with a persistent recession as well as recent fuel and food price hikes. “The National Criminal Justice Forum took cognisance of various factors, such as the financial burden on motorists. Therefore, an amnesty was declared on warrants of arrest for traffic offenders,” said Namibian Police chief Joseph Shikongo during a media briefing on Friday.
He reiterated that the forum passed the decision to grant amnesty to all members of the public with pending traffic warrants of arrest to pay their admission of guilt fines.
This can be done at the nearest magistrate’s court from Mondays to Fridays during the amnesty period, without appearing in
court. The amnesty includes tickets for all municipal traffic services and road transport inspectors countrywide. “Members of the public are hereby encouraged to enquire about possible outstanding warrants of arrest, and get over it.
Please make use of this amnesty, clear your names and change your behaviour on public roads, moving forward,” Shikongo urged.
Bilateral meeting
At the same occasion, he stated the importance of joining hands with Zambia to fight cross-border issues. He noted the force had a meeting with Lemmy Kajoba, the Zambian police chief.
“We had a very fruitful and encouraging meeting. We have our communities along the borders, and they expect to live in harmony. Our duty as leaders is to ensure that our communities co-exist in harmony and in peace,” he
stressed.
Issues discussed at the meeting included illegal fishing, the harvesting of timber, and stock theft, amongst others. It was aimed at strengthening the mechanism at borders to ensure police officers’ cooperation on the joint operation.