WINDHOEK – The regional court on Friday dismissed the election fraud case against RDP member Magnus Nangombe, the Electoral Commission of Namibia’s (ECN) chief systems administrator Nicodemus Mingelius, and former elections director Philemon Kanime.
While delivering judgment, Magistrate Sarel Jacobs said “on record there is no evidence indicating that Nangombe was not entitled to be registered as a voter. The onus was on the state to prove or at least make out a prima facie case that the accused wrongfully and unlawfully, with the intention to defraud or make a false entry of the particulars of Nangombe on the voter’s list or register and the application to register as a voter document with voter’s registration number 05028961 dated 6/2/2008,” the magistrate said.
Kanime was accused of wrongfully, falsely and with intent to defraud, giving out and pretending to the ECN and government that Nangombe was on February 6, 2008 lawfully and properly registered at Omuthiya in order to vote. Nangombe and Mingelius were also charged on the same count. The three pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Advocate Albert Strydom requested the court to discharge his client Nangombe, stating an accused can be discharged if there is no strong evidence available. Strydom said there is no evidence linking Nangombe to the charge he was facing, nor that he was part of a syndicate to taint elections. The defence lawyer further questioned the evidence before court, which he labelled as mere hearsay.
Defence lawyer Hennie Barnard representing Mingelius and Kanime also asked for his clients to be discharged. Barnard said his clients had no charges to answer. It is alleged that Kanime and Mingelius got Nangombe fraudulently registered as a voter in the local authority election of Omuthiya during the period between February 06 and 19, 2008. It is further alleged that Nangombe failed to register himself as a voter during the normal voter registration period from February 04 to 08 in 2008, and that his name was fraudulently placed on the voters roll after the end of the registration period when he was no longer permitted to be registered as a voter. Nangombe and Mingelius had allegedly forged a voters registration application document in Nangombe’s name between February 06 and 19 2008, and used this document to get his name placed on the questionable Omuthiya voters roll.
Nangombe was poised to be a candidate for the RDP in the Omuthiya local authority election, until his name was removed from the voters roll, and the initial plans to hold the election were scrapped. The municipal elections were planned for February 29, but were called off at the eleventh hour, amidst accusations of inefficiency and questions about political party loyalty. The elections eventually took place on September 26, 2008.
By Tunomukwathi Asino