WINDHOEK - Okakarara Constituency Councilor Vetaruhe Kandorozu has dismissed suggestions by some quarters that recent clashes between residents and police were tribally motivated.
“My office is outright stating with confidence this incident has nothing to do with tribalism from the side of the police as almost all the tribes were involved,” said Kandorozu who has been the constituency councillor since 2005.
“I am calling on all Namibians to refrain themselves from any utterance that will fuel tribalism or violence … as all of us have only Namibia as our homeland and we have nowhere else to go,” he added.
Furthermore Kandorozu, who does not drink or smoke, suggested that government should ban the supply, sale and use of alcohol after 12h00, saying this will allow the police to control the situations and to have sober communities most of the time.
He also urged the public to stay away from liquor outlets in the ‘wee’ hours or until the situation gets out of hand.
“No community members or customers have any right to confront any police officer when they are closing the liquor outlets because only the owner or the licence holder has the right to do so,” he said.
Kandorozu also condemned the Namibian Police who, according to him, used maximum force on unarmed civilians who were helpless.
“It is of paramount importance for the Namibian Police to have senior police officials on duty when there is a big operation or where the area is overcrowded rather than sending junior and inexperienced officials to control riotous situations,” he said.
It is understood that a fight broke out when a police officer was allegedly assaulted on the head with a bottle at a local bar.
According to media reports the assaulted cop called for reinforcements to force all the other bars that were open to close.
This led to the arrest of 38 community members after a scuffle broke out between them and the police at Okakarara police station.
A media release issued by the Inspector General of the Namibian Police, Lieutenant General Sebastian Ndeitunga said the 38 people were released from police custody as through preliminary investigations they could not be directly linked to the charges.
He said a full-scale investigation is underway and the would-be culprits would face the full wrath of the law.