Nam Elections 2014 a Complete DISASTER

If there ever was an Election Disaster, then it was here in Namibia on 28 November 2014.

Voters were eager to vote and gathered at the polling stations from early in the morning, only to stand in rows in the sun for hours on end, because of numerous problems with the newly adopted voting system.

First off many of the polling stations did not open in time at 7h00 some did not open at all. Next the verification system did not work properly and they resorted to manual verification of voters from the roll. This caused delays in the process, as many of the ECN personnel had reading difficulties. The end result was that at closing time there were still hundreds of voters waiting to cast their votes and the time limit was overreached by many hours. In fact, at two polling stations in Windhoek voting went on until the next day after sunrise, which is completely against the law. 

Here are some tweets from electionwatchnamibia:
 
The mobile polling station at Oude Rust Oord in Windhoek West never opened. Station was stuck at Pionierspark Old Age home past 22h00.

The mobile polling station at Aris in Windhoek Rural never arrived. People there never voted. They ask when ECN will allow them to vote

Swapo demanding explanations from ECN. Clearly not happy. Many supporters denied the right to vote in the party's heartlands.

Callers on NBC Oshiwambo service complaining of being disenfranchised by slowness of yesterday's vote 

And the list goes on and on.

So now other parties join the ranks of RDP, calling for a new election date. 
 

"We therefore call for the immediate resignation of Professor Paul Isaack as director of elections, the calling off of the current sham process and for the holding of what will be a truly credible, fair and worthy elections on the nearest possible date. - See more at: http://www.namibian.com.na/indexx.php?id=20833&page_type=story_detail&category_id=1#sthash.9mP1Z3jz.dpuf

"We therefore call for the immediate resignation of Professor Paul Isaack as director of elections, the calling off of the current sham process and for the holding of what will be a truly credible, fair and worthy elections on the nearest possible date. - See more at: http://www.namibian.com.na/indexx.php?id=20833&page_type=story_detail&category_id=1#sthash.9mP1Z3jz.dpuf

Namibia Elections under Dispute

The Elections to be held in Namibia tomorrow, 28 November 2014, already are under heavy dispute.

The population is divided about the use of Indian EVM's without a paper trail. Some trust what they told by the ECN, others have done their own due diligence and oppose the use of those EVM's and many have decided to not vote at all.

In an urgent court application to suspend the elections on Wednesday, 26 November, acting judge Miller dismissed the bid on technical grounds. The litigants appealed the decision, but in spite of the appeal having been lodged, the elections will take place. 

This is clearly in violation of the High Court Rules, as can be seen from this letter: 

"AFRICAN LABOUR & HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRE
P.o.Box 70328 Windhoek Tel/Facsimile: +264 61 228128 / +264812550869
Suite 206 Continental Bldg, Independence ave. Whk.

27 November 2014
The Director
Electoral Commission of Namibia
Windhoek
Namibia URGENT
Att: Dr Paul Isaak
Dear Sir
Re: Supreme Court of Namibia Case No. SA 91/2014 – Appeal against the judgment of Kobus Miller AJ in Re: August Maletzky and 3 others // Electoral Commission of Namibia and 17 others.
Above matter refers.
Thank you for taking the time to peruse the content of this urgent letter.
We respectfully draw your attention to to the provisions of the rules of the High Court of Namibia in relation to the appeal pending before the Supreme Court of Namibia.
Rule 121 (2) of the rules of the High Court of Namibia suspends the order granted by Kobus Miller AJ , on the 26 November 2014, unless the court, ie the High Court of Namibia on application of a party directs otherwise.
Furthermore, I respectfully alert you to the provisions of rule 121(3) of the rules of the High Court, which provides that should you wish to continue with elections you must enter into ‘ such security de restituendo' as the parties may agree or the Registrar of the High Court may direct. The latter provision is repeated in Rule 8(1) of the rules of the Supreme Court.
In those circumstances, your decision to proceed with the elections would be a violation of the above mentioned rules of the High Court, the law of general application and the Constitution of Namibia, and are likely to cast profound aspersions on the legitimacy of the elections and any subsequent government.
Of course, we are acutely aware of the requirment to pay security in respect of the appeal filed, however such payment is not immediate, and only becomes payable before lodging with the registrar of the Supreme Court copies of the record of the proceedings in the court aqua . Refer to rule 8(2) of the rules of the Supreme Court of Namibia.
For ease of reference The Rules dealing with a Civil appeal to the Supreme Court are reproduced below.
Applicable High Court Rules:
Civil Appeal to Supreme Court
“121. (1)Notice of an appeal to the Supreme Court against a judgment or order of the court must be filed in accordance with the Rules of the Supreme Court.
(2)Where an appeal to the Supreme Court has been noted the operation and execution of the order in question is suspended pending the decision of such appeal, unless the court which gave the order on the application of a party directs otherwise.
(3)If the order referred to in subrule (2) is carried into execution by order of the court the party requesting the execution must, before such execution, enter into such security de restiuendo as the parties may agree or in the absence of an agreement, the registrar may decide, for the restitution of any amount obtained on the execution, which amount includes capital and interest, if so ordered, and taxed costs and the registrar’s decision is final.
Applicable Supreme Court Rules:
Security in the case of appeals
“8. (1)If the judgment appealed from is carried into execution by direction of the court appealed from, the party requesting execution shall before such execution, enter into good and sufficient security de restituendo.;
(2)If the execution of a judgment is suspended pending appeal, the appellant shall, before lodging with the registrar copies of the record enter into good and sufficient security for the respondent’s costs of appeal.”
In those circumstances, your decision to proceed with the elections would be a violation of the above mentioned rules of the High Court, and the Supreme Court of Namibia and are likely to cast profound aspersions on the legitimacy of the elections and any subsequent government.
Should you nevertheless wish to proceed with the elections, you may only do so with leave of the high court.
We trust that you find the above in order and rely on your wisdom to respect the Constitution and the rule of law.
Yours faithfully
SIGNED
August Maletzky , Director- ALHRC
Cc:
The United Nations Representative in Namibia
The African Union Representative in Namibia
Election Observers in Namibia
The Ambassador of the USA
The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany
The High Commissioner of the U.K
The High Commissioner of Botswana
The High Commissioner of RSA
The European Union Representative in Namibia
The Director of Namrights
Office of the Ombudsperson
All REGISTERED Political Parties in Namibia
The Media.

The writer of this letter has in the meantime received various death threats.

It thus follows that these elections tomorrow cannot be regarded as being in the interest of the population, nor as being free and fair. 

Is this how Namibia uses Donors money?

While house prices in Namibia have become unaffordable for the general public, especially young people and hundreds live in shacks around towns, our government spends millions on mansions and cars for officials.

Namibia has second highest housing price increase

Pohamba mansion worth 100 low-cost houses

When we are confronted with headlines like these, we start to ask questions.
Where does the money for mansions come from?
Where does the money for fat retirement packages for outgoing presidents come from?


Namibia has a population of just over 2 million of which nearly 50% are children under the age of 18.
That leaves about 1,2 mil adults of which another low estimate of 30% is unemployed. So, if we have 800 thousand tax payers left, which is a high estimate, where does our government get the money to build official mansions for acting and retiring presidents?  Does it come from donor countries?
And how can the country afford this extravagant lifestyle of 3 presidents at the same time, while thousands sit without a proper roof over their heads?

These are questions which need to be addressed and answered urgently, since the population is angered and restless.

Namibians fight for their Constitution

The Constitution Amendment Bill is to be tabled in the Namibian parliament today. We, the people of Namibia, do not want to be railroaded into this before the November elections. So we've started an online petition , as well as an email/fax petition to the Ombudsman.

Our petition to the Ombudsman will most likely not deliver any fruit, if we look back to his achievements with the police, but according to our Constitution he is our line to follow if we have a complaint against governing institutions. So we take that line of defense anyhow.

Online petitions  only work if thousands of people sign it.
Below is an excerpt from a longer video about how the people of Nanaimo in Canada won their case against their city councilors. You can find the complete story HERE




             

Namibians, however, haven't yet gotten used to sharing news online with others. So this petition hasn't yet really taken off. By the time it does, the amendments will most probably have been implemented.

Thursday 7 August a demonstration  is to take place in Windhoek, our capital city. Yet even that is approached with mixed feelings.

Magistrate kills a person, is not prosecuted

The latest evidence of double standards in the Namibian justice system can be seen in the story of the magistrate, who shot a burglar and thief trying to escape from the scene of his crime.

Any normal person in the same circumstances, would immediately be detained to face a murder charge. Even though a murder case was opened according to police sources, the police withdrew the charges and made no arrest. In contrast to this, I personally know of a person who was charged and taken into custody for just detaining a burglar in his house until the police turned up and he is now facing a big court case.

It's going to be interesting to see if there is going to be a follow up to this episode or if this story just gets wiped under the table. If the latter is the case, we effectively live in a police state.


Judging from the comments in the first report
this incident is setting an example for others to follow suit, especially in the light of the high crime rate concerning burglaries in Namibia. People are fed up being robbed of their hard earned belongings and emotions are running high. If now nothing happens to the magistrate, the people will have a precedent to rely on for taking the law into their own hands and just shooting possible burglars.


I am appalled by what was said. There is no respect for life in this country and our Constitution is ignored by almost everybody.

For Namibians to discuss: Corruption Rife in Namibia

Even though president Pohamba vowed to fight corruption and an
Anti-Corruption Commission has been established, no change can yet
be seen. Almost daily another case of corruption is unveiled.

The latest case of apparent corruption even involves Pohambas daughter,
Kaupumhote and her company Kata Investments CC, which was awarded a N$16.4 million tender by the National Housing Enterprise(NHE) for building
houses in an Otjiwarongo suburb.

The BIG question is: was this tender awarded legally, according to official
regulations laid down or not?

We the people have a right to know the truth. Since we don't get the truth
via our media, we are now looking for ways to get behind the truth.
There are various ways to follow, so we now need to discuss which one to follow.

I herewith invite the people of Namibia to contribute their ideas, put them up for discussion in the comments section of this blog post.

Minor Girl Detained with Criminals in Windhoek

An Article in the Namibian of 12 June 2014 states the case of a 13 year old girl having been locked up in Wanaheda police station for allegedly stealing a cell phone. This article is causing quite a stir amongst readers of the paper. You can follow it HERE.

With a knowledge of the conditions in Namibias pretrial holding facilities, see HERE, it is an absolute atrocity to lock up a minor child in such conditions for a day or even just for a few hours. The psychological damage done to such a child cannot be undone. The alleged theft of a cell phone does not warrant such a punishment to be meted out intentionally, especially not towards a child aged 13.

What does cause greater concern, however, is the fact that recommendations from the Ombudsman keep being ignored since 2006.  The only recourse we as Namibians have against tyranny from the side of government, is the Ombudsman. If government does not recognize his authority, how can we the people rely on him for recourse?

Another serious concern is the fact that the Namibian Cabinet decided in 2009 already that the Ministry of Safety should budget for the construction of special facilities, but nothing has happened to date.

What becomes obvious from the online discussion following this article is the total ignorance of the general public about their human rights, what the statute says and how it is applied in reality. This ignorance is the ideal ground for tyranny to take over.

#3 Common Law – applicable in Namibia?

The question is: can common law courts be installed in Namibia?

We have a Constitution hailed as the most progressive in the world. This Constitution solidly enshrines our naturally inherited human rights. Thus one would think that common law, which is rooted in Natural Law, would have been given its rightful place within that Constitution.  This, however, is not the case. Instead, Roman/Civil Law has been cleverly weaved into the Constitution by those in control of the whole process.

We are not given a jury of the people, like in England, Canada and America, but judges appointed by the President. Can we then truthfully boast about having the most progressive Constitution in the world? I do not think so. But I digress.

Common law is an inalienable part of any democracy

Namibia claims to be a democratic Republic. In a Democracy, civil servants are elected by the people as their representatives and are thus accountable to the people, the community who elected them. It is then the duty of the people to enforce this accountability, not the duty of those elected.

When democratically elected governments do not address matters of concern to the community, they neglect their duty of office and must expect investigations concerning this neglect.

Such investigations can only be done by the people in whose service the government is placed. Public officials themselves do not have the jurisdiction to investigate their own wrong actions just as state-appointed judges have no jurisdictional competence to rule on the criminality and guilt of their employers.

That jurisdiction rests on the voting public. That is common sense – common law.

Common law is enacted by common law courts

Namibias’ courts are run as civil law courts, where the public at best is granted spectator status. Those courts do not serve the public. They are designed for the protection of rulers and tyrants.

The authority to establish jury-run common law courts is vested in the inherent sovereignty of the people and their resolve to uphold that sovereignty. Thus common law courts can be established in any community anywhere in the world.

The purpose of common law courts is the protection of the community and every part in it, including the protection of the inalienable rights of every person within that community.

Since that also is the purpose of the Namibian Constitution, the establishment of jury-run common law courts in Namibia is constitutional and lawful, even if not specifically mentioned therein. 
If we the people have the right to set up political parties opposing the government (Article 17+18), we most certainly have the right to set up common law courts.

The foremost principles of jury-run common law courts are due process and the normal Rules of Evidence. These principles, once again, are stipulated clearly in the Namibian Constitution. Thus jury-run common law courts would not violate, but uphold the constitution.

The go-ahead to establish such courts only depends on the needs of the community and their resolve to protect their inalienable rights and sovereignty.  It is not subject to any political system, government or any other legal or moral authority.  

If the Namibian communities decide they’ve had enough of manipulation and stealing of public monies and assets, they have the right and duty to start investigations to protect what is rightfully theirs.

For a more detailed explanation of jury-run common law courts you can go HERE .

This is Namibia Today!

Lead article of The Namibian 9/5/2014 

Judge President Petrus Damaseb lobbies for higher salaries for politicians 

while underfed children of the San community at Omega1 wait in vain to get food.

Need I say more?  YES: a leech, a traitor, a heartless, selfish NWO puppet and disgrace for Namibia, who likes to be addressed as "your worship".

How can we the people call our Government to order? 

The same way SWAPO did for years before independence: address the whole world.

Public Office Bearers’ Remuneration and Benefits Commission - See more at: http://www.namibian.com.na/indexx.php?id=12603&page_type=story_detail#sthash.IKoV2UoZ.dpuf

Judge President Petrus Damaseb

Judge President Petrus Damaseb

Cashless Society with Time Banking

After looking at Time Banking for quite a while now, I've come to the conclusion that there is no better way to address the ailments of society today and at the same time fight the Cabal in their money grabbing.



1. It does put all people on the same level, equalizing their worth, lifting up  those who have been marginalized and and debased for too long. Why should doctors, attorneys and politicians be paid more per hour of their time than artisans, secretaries and gardeners? 

2. It does put everyone in a position to afford necessary services which normally are beyond their means. 

3. It does build strong self-supporting communities in a world where everyone has been living for himself up till now, just looking after his/her own profit and well being or living on the dole.

4. It will alleviate the problem of unemployment we struggle with almost everywhere and give our youth new hope and purpose in life. 

5. The Cabal will no longer be able to suck us dry with income taxes. 

Too many more points to mention here. 

And so I am contemplating opening the first Time Bank in Africa, where  it seems none exist yet. I know it will cost hard work to first introduce and the promote the concept here in Namibia. So I am asking my Namibian readers to please comment and share where ever they can and start following my blog for updates. Thank you. 

Has the Namibian Constitution been abandoned?

Just 24 short years after Namibia's independence the Constitution seems to have been abandoned. The conditions in the pretrial detention facility in Okahandja are a grim reminder of the dark ages with their dungeons.

The following facts were related to me by four recent inmates.

The cells:
are totally over filled. Half of the inmates have to sleep in the open, roofless section of cells. There is only one working toilet in the cell, which by the way, is totally open and double serves as the only chair available. There is no washbasin and only a hole in the wall next to the toilet serving as shower.  There are no beds, no chairs, nor a table. Each inmate is supplied with 3-5mm thin "mattress" plus one greasy blanket infested with lice, placed on the bare cement floor. Furthermore the cell(average of 28 inmates) is supplied with 2 bars of soap plus 3 rolls of toilet paper once a week. If inmates don't have friends outside to bring them other necessary toiletries, they just have to do without them. Lights stay on day and night. Inspections are done at various times during the night to intimidate inmates even more,

The Food:
Mornings: 5 slices of brown bread with one teaspoon of either jam or peanut butter on one slice, if available,  + half a cup of coffee/tee mix per inmate. 
Lunch: maize porridge(no sugar,no salt) + a cup of instant soup. 
Dinner: same as lunch. 
Special: Wednesday and Sunday: chicken or meat or fish bones+ cup of juice
Depending on officer on duty, inmates may get a fruit on Wednesdays.
Inmates are supplied with a plastic plate and cup, no cutlery, which have to be pushed through the door bars at mealtimes to be filled.
Meal times depend on the whim of the kitchen personnel.

Once you are inside this facility, you are totally cut off from the outside world and treated like a rabid animal, even though the Constitution guarantees that human dignity may not be violated. Depending on the whim of the controlling officer, inmates may or may not see visitors on Sundays for 5 minutes. 
Pretrial periods vary from 2 months to up to four years.  

Above conditions stand in stark contrast to Article 8 of the Constitution of Namibia, which states:

(1)	The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable.
(2)	(a)	In any judicial proceedings or in other proceedings before any organ of the State, and during the enforcement of a penalty, respect for human dignity shall be guaranteed.
	(b)	No persons shall be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

And so one must ask: has the Government of Namibia abandoned the Constitution? Or are our governors just careless in the performance of their duties, employing totally incompetent people in positions of authority? 







 

Is the Namibian Police incompetent or biased?

Details of the case:
On Tuesday 15 April 2014 somebody stole the pet parrot of Sakkie, my helper, out of it's cage in Sakkies house in Nau-Aib, Okahandja. After talking to his neighbors Sakkie found out who had stolen the parrot. So on Wednesday morning he went to the Okahandja police station to open a case of theft against the thief, who is employed in the Namibian army in a nearby camp. He was told to come back in two hours.
Coming to work late, he told me about his predicament, attended to his job and was back at the police station two hours later, only to find out that nothing had happened in the meantime. He did not turn up for work on Thursday, as the police had told him to wait there, since they had no car available to drive to the army camp. 

When he turned up for work on Friday, a public Holiday, I found out that no case had been opened and still nothing had been done to apprehend the thief. So I decided to accompany him to the police in order to get more details about why nothing had been done yet.

Five officers where behind the counter. All of them began to verbally attack Sakkie, telling him he hadn't made a case, only a report and he hadn't waited there as told and hadn't informed them when he left to get some lunch. I said we were here to now open a case, not report. Upon that we were again told to wait. 
After waiting for about 20 minutes, the traffic cop with the car came in to tell me I should drive ahead, he would catch up with me along the road as he was driving very fast. I did as I was told, waiting somewhere along the road again for half an hour, as the car wasn't coming as expected. Eventually they sped past me hooting and I followed them to the army camp.

On arrival at the camp, the traffic cop and police officer walked to the barracks accompanied by an army officer, then returned to tell us the guy wasn't there since it was a Public Holiday. Another army officer came up to us to get the story, then walked to their hospital, where the guy was supposed to work, but he wasn't there either. 

The police officer told the army officer that we were going to open a case and then he would just have to take the guy into custody. We came here to give the guy a chance to state his side and give back the stolen bird. The army officer then took our telephone numbers and said he would come back to us.

We then returned home, while the police and traffic cop drove off in a different direction. Right up to today, Sunday 20 April 2014, the case is wrapped in silence.

Analysis:
1. A theft was reported, but no criminal docket was opened.

2. The plaintiff was not informed of procedures to be followed.
3. The plaintiff was put on hold for 2 days.
   
This is a clear case of not taking complaints seriously, thereby promoting criminality in Namibia. 

4. Plaintiff is openly portrayed as the guilty partner in this case for not  having followed instructions from police to wait.

This is a clear indication of a guilty conscience for not following proper procedures in a criminal case.

5. Without any official docket a trip of 30km was undertaken on public cost.
6. This trip was undertaken on a Public Holiday, meaning double pay.

This is a clear case of misuse of public funds. 

7. The time delay gave the alleged criminal ample opportunity to get rid of any evidence.

This is a clear case of complicity with suspect and bias toward other officials.  

8. This case still has not been officially docketed. 

Conclusion:
The Namibian police in Okahandja are not only incompetent but also abetting criminality in the country by their flat refusal to record complaints properly. 

This is further mentioned by LAC as reported by Refworld.


Update 6 May: According to Sakkie, the alleged thief in the meantime paid him the price of the bird plus an additional amount for Sakkies emotional hurt, after Sakkie had put his case before the military police at Ozona.   

Enforce Your Right in Court and Win.

Most of us may try to stay out of court during our lifetime, yet there is no guarantee to our being successful at that. It therefore is important to prepare yourself ahead of time in order to handle such a situation to your benefit. Being prepared is half the battle won already. I know of at least one person who would have been able to avoid being incarcerated if he had been prepared properly.

The video below explains how you can learn to enforce your right in a fair hearing in court. Never give the court jurisdiction over you by entering a plea.

  

Even though the above video was made for Americans, the procedure can be applied in any country where human rights are enshrined in a constitution. Thus a knowledge of ones constitutional rights is a prerequisite.

In Namibia the right to a fair trial is enshrined in Article 12 of the Namibian Constitution.

Letter to the Government of Namibia

The following letter was sent to 'parliament@parliament.gov.na' on the 4th of April 2014. It's receipt was not acknowledged. 


Subject: You might be interested in this link...


http://www.parliament.gov.na/national_council/nc_adopted_archive.php

Via a Google search I happened to stumble upon this website, which I found highly interesting. As I looked deeper, however, I realized that it has not been updated since 2011. That fact negates the whole purpose of the site as stated on the index page, namely to ” make Parliament truly representative of the Namibian people.”

I do not know who is responsible for updates, but obviously that person or department has grossly neglected his/her/its duty. This negligence :

1.      puts the Namibian Government in a very bad light internationally as people can’t find any current information here;

2.      currently bars the people of Namibia of actively taking part in their present government;

3.      is thus a waste of precious resources in its maintenance, in violation of our constitution.

As a Namibian I therefore move a request to have the site updated regularly to properly reflect current matters, thereby promoting Namibia in a favorable light to the outside world.

Concerned Namibian

my name

Now I ask:is it too much work to just acknowledge receipt of an email at the time you receive it?