By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK
The Windhoek City Police Chief, Abraham Kanime, and officials from the Namibian Police will today meet residents of former Dolam location and OD/Herero location to address a row which has erupted between the two communities.
The meeting follows a number of attacks which took place last weekend, between members of the two communities, which left a number of residents with stab wounds and bruises.
In fact, City of Windhoek Councillor, Benestus Kandundu, called an emergency meeting last week on Saturday in the presence of officials from the City Police.
Kandundu said he was called last week on Saturday by community leaders to address the problem as residents feared for their safety.
He noted that the fights, sadly, had a tribal undertone and thus he wanted to address it as soon as possible to avoid the situation getting out of control.
According to a resident in the area, the first attacks occurred last week on Thursday when two Otjiherero-speaking men were attacked by a group of young men believed to be Damara-speaking.
The group allegedly surrounded the two men in the street and robbed them of their cash, a cell-phone and other belongings before beating them up.
One of the victims was struck with a stone on the head as he tried to escape while the other man sustained minor injuries.
The resident said the second wave of attacks erupted on Friday evening after a group of young men believed to be Damara-speaking came from the Okalindi Bar and tried to rob a woman of her belongings.
The woman allegedly resisted and screamed for help. Patrons at a nearby shebeen heard her screams and came to her rescue.
Most of the people that came from the shebeen were young men staying in the area and mainly Otjiherero-speaking.
The group that was attacking the woman started throwing stones at the advancing group resulting in a fight erupting.
The resident claims that the Damara-speaking group retreated up the river that divides the two locations.
The fight went on for two hours and only stopped after the City Police intervened.
The shebeen owner, who refused to give his name, was also stabbed a couple of times with a knife and was admitted to Katutura Hospital on Friday evening where he was held over night.
A number of windows were broken and several members of both groups were injured in the fight.
The source claimed that one youth from the Dolam location vowed that they would continue attacking the area until an Otjiherero-speaking person dies because they wanted to avenge the death of a Damara-speaking youth at ‘Herero Mall’ a few weeks ago.