Steven Klukowski

KEETMANSHOOP – Concerned residents of Keetmanshoop have levelled allegations of assault against Namibian Police’s Special Reserve Force members after alleged shooting and assault incidents by the unit last weekend.

Andy Plaatjie (30), who resides in Krönlein, when visited by this publication at the Keetmanshoop State Hospital, alleged a police officer shot him twice in the arm with rubber bullets without any reason.

“I heard some noise during the early hours of last Saturday – and when I went out to enquire, I found some police officers in my yard,” he said. He added, upon enquiring about the noise, an unknown police officer in a camouflaged uniform shot him twice in his right arm with rubber bullets without any warning or explanation.

“Two of my neighbours also witnessed the incident; we found the bullet cartridges on the ground at daybreak,” he said. Plaatjie said upon going to the hospital for medical treatment, he has been informed his arm is broken and might need specialised treatment in Windhoek.

“As a painter, this was the arm I work with, hence my intention to open a criminal and civil case against the police of Keetmanshoop,” he said. In an unrelated incident, another resident Marshall de Klerk said he was severely assaulted by the police on the same night.

“I was near a nightclub in Krönlein when a police vehicle pulled up next to me, where after officers started kicking and assaulting me without any valid reason, making me lose consciousness, “ he said. De Klerk also said as a result of his injuries, he is suffering from a painful broken rib. Addressing the community of the town yesterday, Namibian Police chief Joseph Shikongo explained the Special Reserve Force as a specialised unit, that acts only upon instructions from a regional commander or himself.

“They are normally deployed to crime scenes, where the uniformed unit cannot maintain law and order during demonstrations or at a public uproar. These officers are normally authorised to use rubber bullets in cases where citizens become unruly or do not behave in a socially accepted manner – as a means to restore law and order and defuse such instances,” Shikongo explained. He furthermore advised those affected citizens/family members to, if there was proof of negligence from the police, consult the regional commander and open criminal cases against such members of the police force.

Meanwhile, Percy Charlies, a community activist, reasoned it will be premature to blame any of the two parties for these incidents if you do not have first-hand information on what exactly transpired. “It might be that any of them could have been a danger to each other and one has to establish if rules and regulations have been followed by both parties to the book,” he informed this publication.

No criminal cases were opened at the time of going to press.

- sklukowski@nepc.com.na