By Emma Kakololo
RUNDU
It would seem murder victim, Christof Weka, will become another homicide statistic because the police simply failed to follow leads from the onset when his clothes were reportedly found abandoned on the Kavango riverbank.
Namibian Police Regional Commander for Kavango, Deputy Commissioner Olavi Auanga, recently confirmed that the police officers who attended the crime scene did not do a proper investigation. He said a post-mortem revealed that Weka was murdered and did not drown as was previously widely speculated.
On the morning of August 15, the late Weka allegedly went poaching with his wife, Kativa, along the river. At some point his wife got tired and decided to wait for him while he continued with the hunt further downstream. That was the last time she saw her husband alive.
A few hours later, Weka’s sandals, hat and shotgun were found abandoned on a nearby sandbank by his neighbour, Mark Paxton. Weka was a cousin of regional councillor Sebastian Karupu, and owner of the shotgun as well as the piece of land close to Paxton’s camp at Shamvura, which is situated about 120 km east of Rundu.
Weka took care of the farm when Karupu was away. Weka’s body was later found near a place called Korokoko. At that time, it was speculated that he had drowned.
However, Deputy Commissioner Auanga last week said Weka was a victim of foul play and did not drown as was initially speculated before the post-mortem.
“I can say with certainty that Weka was beaten up while he was alive and was thrown into the water while unconscious,” said the region’s police commander.
“We could not find water in his mouth meaning he was still breathing. Water was found in his lungs. Therefore, the conclusion we can make is that he was not in a position to help himself when he was thrown into the water.
“But, who killed him – that we cannot say.”
Auanga who was in Windhoek at the time of the incident said police should have tried to thoroughly explore the area where the abandoned clothing were found as well as avoid using Paxton’s speedboat to look for the body as this was a professional conflict.
The mere fact that Weka’s body was found at a deep side of the river, he said, already created suspicion that he was taken there by a boat or canoe and dumped into the water.
“If he had drowned, he would not have gone that far. It would also not have taken the police so long to find his body as the water at the edge is shallow and clear enough for one to see the bottom of the river,” said the Deputy Commissioner.
“Police officers who first visited the area messed up. By the time I arrived there, it was too late and most of the evidence was destroyed,” he said.
On September 16, a group of people in the Shamvura area marched from the Teacher Resource Centre at Shinyungwe to the gate of the Shamvura Camp.
In a petition, the demonstrators said they considered Paxton a prime suspect in Weka’s death. They accused him of refusing locals access to the river and removing people’s fishing nets and boats from the river, even on the Angolan side of the river.
In an interview with New Era last week Paxton denied that he had anything to do with Weka’s death.
“If I had killed the man, I would not have returned the firearm,” he said in his defence.
“We did not know to whom the firearm belonged … I don’t know who the man is,” he said, adding that he did what any person could have done in a similar situation.
“I think I did the right thing. I could not leave an abandoned firearm,” said Paxton.
He said there was no mobile phone connection in the area where they found the shotgun and he had to drive back to his camp to inform the police.
“I went out after nine in the morning with the boat down the river on a quick excursion. We saw something on the sandbank. We saw a shotgun, green hat and sandals put together and photographed them. We called out hoping to get a response – nobody answered back. We collected all the abandoned items. On our way back, we saw two Angolan women who gave us fruits and we gave them cool drinks. We asked them about the firearm but they could not speak English so we went on. We also found 12 people, gave them a lift to cross the river (to the Namibian side).”
The photograph of the abandoned possessions was taken at 11:44; the two Angolan women’s at 11:50 while the one with the young men was taken at 12:09.
Nicodemus Marungu, younger brother of late Weka has strong suspicion that Paxton knows what happened to his brother.
“The boys Paxton gave a lift, as well as my brother’s wife saw him (Paxton) and two other men on the boat, heading in the direction that Weka went. He spent more than an hour down there only to come back with my brother’s cap, shoes and gun.
“We are not saying he killed him, but only suspecting him. Up to now, we are still searching for the truth.”
He added “Paxton is an environmentalist. If he finds somebody threatening the environment, then to him it is a problem. If Paxton finds you fishing, then you are in danger, whatever you are having he will confiscate, even if you have a permit. That is why we are suspecting him in Weka’s death because he went out to poach.”
According to Marungu, the police are also not willing to investigate the matter.
“I think the delay is with the police. What we realised is that they don’t want to work. Maybe because a white man is involved. But I don’t think if it was a black man, he would be walking free.
“The police are scared of Paxton. I can recall one day when I went to the police to find out about their progress and they told me that they don’t want to follow this because Paxton can open a case against them and they might end up losing their jobs.”
Paxton denied that he prohibits villagers access to the part of the river opposite his camp.
“We have an agreement with Chief Kassian Shiyambi signed by himself. At that time, we negotiated for 39 hectares of land. It was stipulated that we would not allow use of the river that will interfere with our tourism activities.
“They can come and go where they want. We are not impinging on their living, they have the whole river.”
According to Paxton, since he sometimes rents out his boats to the Ministry of Environment, whenever villagers see them patrolling, they think it is him.
Last year, the Gciriku Chief Shiyambi wrote a letter to the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement complaining that Paxton had fenced off more than 39 hectares of land despite being given only 15 hectares.
“This was done by him alone without first consulting the Gciriku Traditional Authority,” reads the letter that urged for the withdrawal of lease to Paxton.
Shiyambi also alleged that since Paxton moved into the area, the local communities have experienced problems “with regard to his attitude and social behaviour that prohibit the local community from the natural water from the river and other natural resources.
“Because of him, many members of the community surrounding his place were imprisoned by the police only because they wanted to make use of the natural resources. We do not want to grant Mr Paxton the leasehold in our area of jurisdiction anymore.”
The Chief said his letter should not be seen as not wanting development in his area, but rather an encouragement “that we want development that goes together with bringing peace and harmony to the inhabitants”.
New Era is also in possession of a document from the Land Ministry confirming the allocation of only15 hectares to Paxton on August 5, 1996.