Zorena Jantze
THE Electoral Commission of Namibia’s (ECN) Information Technology expert, Milton Shaanika Louw has been granted bail of N$4000 in the Windhoek Magistrate court today.
Louw is charged with the theft of five laptops to the value of N$31 000 from his employer, Theo Mujoro or alternatively the (ECN) and selling them to Cash Converters.
Louw appeared before magistrate Ivan Gawanab while the state was represented by prosecutor Rowan van Wyk. The accused Louw stated that he will seek legal counsel and was granted bail on the grounds that he will not leave Windhoek without informing the Investigating Officer of the case.
The disgraced ECN employee admitted to taking the laptops, however denied wanting to sell them. Louw however in a media interview with a radio station earlier this week stated that someone had tempered with the Election results and was trying to steal president Hage Geingob’s votes to force a rerun.
He added that whoever hacked into the ECNs systems came from an external entity and were messing with the two-thirds majority of the ruling party.
Commenting on the subject, Chairperson of the ECN, Advocate Notemba Tjipueja confirmed that a case of theft of five laptops has been opened against the Technical Advisor to the CEO, Milton Shaanika Louw with the Namibian Police.
Advocate Tjipueja also confirmed that five other new unused laptops were removed from the ECN premises without authorization.
Responding to Louw’s claims that the election results were manipulated, Advocate Tjipueja stated that it is within the purview of the courts to ventilate all allegations surrounding electoral process, adding that the ECN is not in position to comment on any allegations or statements by Louw or any other person on matters related to this case as it is sub judice.
On Wednesday, 11 December 2019, the ECN received a notice of motion filed with the Supreme Court of Namibia Dr. Panduleni Itula, who stood as an independent presidential candidate in the recent Presidential and National Assembly elections. The notice of motion by Dr. Itula and other applicants relates to the election results.
