Windhoek
The Police Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga has described as organised crime the plans of the Affirmative Repositioning movement to illegally occupy land, adding that participants will face the full wrath of his troops.
Speaking to NBC during the Good Morning Namibia show yesterday morning, Ndeitunga reiterated the police’s readiness to deal with any eventuality emanating from the planned mobilisation of countrywide land occupations.
Ndeitunga and AR co-founder Job Amupanda have exchanged verbal shots for the better part of this week – following remarks the police chief made at Otjiwarongo on Monday about the planned protests.
Ndeitunga said yesterday: “This is organised crime. This is a case of people organising themselves to commit a crime.”
“The police, in their quest to ensure peace and stability, public law and order, will be in their normal crime prevention duties on the 31st [of July]. We can’t allow anarchy.”
The police chief said Namibia has laws that can be used to address the current discontent over land, without pursuing illegal means.
“The process of acquiring land is governed by laws. Procedures are clearly laid down on how to acquire land,” Ndeitunga told NBC.
AR and its proponents have argued that the existing legal tools lack the firepower to change the status quo, hence the pursuit of a different path to land acquisition.
And while Ndeitunga remarked that addressing land is a matter that requires time, landless Namibians have in the past countered this argument by stating that the country has done little in rectifying the situation since independence – attained 25 years ago.
“It is unreasonable to give such kind of deadline to government because addressing land is a process,” Ndeitunga said yesterday.
“Government has done a lot, but probably not enough, in making the necessary efforts to address the issue of land.
Legislation was passed, committees of high level have been set up to address the issue of land, but it is a process.”
While AR propagates the notion that there is no law preventing land occupation, following its recent legal consultative meeting, Ndeitunga had other views.
“Grabbing land is a crime like any other. If the police are made aware that a crime is about to be committed, we have to be ready to prevent that crime. “Citizens have the right to assemble peacefully without arms, but when you organise something that could result in chaos and violence, we will deal with you.”
Ndeitunga insinuated that people with agendas other than land could hijack the planned protests to commit other activities – possibly acts of crime. “People of different ideas will conglomerate there and you as the organiser will not be able to control them to behave according to the law,” he warned. If the planned mobilisation results in chaos and anarchy, the consequences could be serious, said Ndeitunga.
“It threatens public peace, state security, lives of citizens and the economy. We can’t allow this to happen as if we don’t have enabling laws to address our problems,” the police chief said in a live interview.