William J. Mbangula Outapi The Founding Pre-sident Dr Sam Nujoma has lashed out at shebeen owners, women abusers, some media institutions and the critics of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Speaking during the launch of the Omusati Education and Training Fund (OETF) over the weekend, Nujoma blamed some media institutions of instigating war between neigh-bouring countries. He is the patron of the OETF. “I want to warn the imperialists that if you touch Zimbabwe, you have touched Swapo,” he stated. Swapo and the ruling Zanu PF in Zimbabwe fought the same common enemy and after independence of the two countries, there was working relations between the two parties. For the said reason, he added, there is no way that the Swapo Party could allow Zimbabwe to be victimised by imperialists. He said this in the context of any British plans and intentions to send troops to re-conquer Zimbabwe, saying that as the President of Swapo, he will mobilise Namibians to defend Zimbabwe at all cost. “We fought together with Zanu PF against the imperialists. Now that they are defeated, they want to manipulate the po-litical situation in Zimbabwe and the DRC because of the rich natural resources in those countries.” According to Nujoma, it is unbelievable and unfair to have 75 percent of the land in Zimbabwe owned by a fraction of white settlers while the majority is poor and landless Africans are crowded under poverty. In his view, the criticism levelled at the Deputy Minister of Lands and Resettlement Isaac Katali is not fair because the Namibian situation of land ownership is also similar. “There are those white people in Namibia who do not want peace and stability in this country because they do not want to share land. I want to tell them that if they are against peace, they should pack and go.” Nujoma lauded the late millionaire Werner List as one of the shining examples of mutual co-existence and sharing of land because he is the only white man in the country who donated six farms to the government out of his own free will. On the shebeen owners, he cautioned them to stop not only insulting President Hifike-punye Pohamba but also threatening to take hostage Prime Minister Nahas Angula and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana. He said those who are contemplating taking them hostage will see for themselves if they happen to do it. Some of them (shebeen owners) he said, went as far as occupying the parliamentary grounds in Windhoek, which, he noted, is totally unacceptable. “Anyone insulting President Pohamba by shouting him down should be arrested and if it is found that he/she is a Swapo member, he/she will immediately be expelled from Swapo,” he cautioned. While addressing the gathering he invited to the podium Chief Oswin Mukulu of Ombalantu and Chief Herman Iipumbu of Uukwambi in order to explain the traditional way of responsible consumption of alcohol. The same happened also to the governors of Omusati and Oshikoto regions, who were called to explain the rumours going round that a nine-month-old child drowned in a tombo container in the northern regions while the mother was reportedly drunk. Apparently this was an indication that they will have to pull their socks in combating illegal liquor trading, which he condemned as shameful since it is taking place in streets and at road sides under uncontrolled and unhygienic conditions. After a drinking spree, Nujoma said, they go out to beat, insult and even kill their wives with pangas and knives. Such unbecoming behaviour should be punished through the legal system of the country. “Abusers and killers of women, who are our mothers, should be put behind bars for life,” he emphasised. Concerning the media, the former Head of State specifically singled out the Windhoek Observer’s Editor Hannes Smith who he blamed for not only inciting hatred between neighbouring countries and individual citizens of those countries but also for glorifying mass murderers of the past apartheid colonial era. “Only recently he (Smith) published a picture of the notorious former Koevoet (Crowbar) Commander General Hans Dreyer glorifying him for the heinous crimes committed in Namibia and elsewhere. I want to state that Dreyer has committed crimes against humanity. He started in Zimbabwe as a member of the equally notorious unit, the Rhodesian Selous Scouts, then after being defeated in Zimbabwe, he was recruited by the then South African colonial regime.”