Select Page

A law-abiding minister?

Dear sir,
A couple of days ago, the deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Tjekero Tweya tried, and effectively so, made the Namibian people look like a bunch of ‘bimbos’.
This was noticed by both Namibians and the diplomatic corps stationed in the country.
What happened this time?
The Ministry is already in enough trouble as its Head is allegedly pocketing consulting fees by the millions; now we hear that the deputy Minister – Tweya – ‘pocketed’ some 3000 ha of communal land for himself in an ‘enterprising’ spirit. The land, which is precisely 2935.86 ha as per a report by the Namibian Press Agency (Nampa), was fenced  by the minister and he established his own farming enterprise on it, while it is a communal, tribe-owned area. That is against the law! Please note, it is against the laws of Namibia! And therefore, it should make the offender, if found guilty before a court, a criminal!
About 10 villages and two conservancies were robbed by Minister Tweya’s land grabbing. The livelihood of these people depends, at least partly, on the access to that land. The people used that 3000 ha for grazing and collecting the wild fruits of the earth. Does he not know it? He has to know; every Namibian knows about the problem of illegally fencing communal land. Yes, many others did it before Tjekero Tweya and all got away with it. We should establish a list of the offenders, to name and shame them all!
Does this not mean that Namibia is, in fact, a lawless state, a Banana- republic in which those in high position can do as they please? Is Mr Tweya not now projecting the image of a ‘Mafia-state Namibia’ into the world, 22 years after independence? The world will notice all the ‘funny’ that is coming out of the Ministry of Trade and Industry; the world will notice everything Dr Geingob and Tweya did. Their actions harm our image; all this is reason enough – at least in a true democracy – to fire them both at once. But in a  ‘Mafia’ style ruled environment this will never happen; the Mafia will fire (at) the complainants instead.
Rudolf
Via E-mail

About The Author