Staff Reporter
PRESS Secretary of the Namibian Presidency, Dr Alfredo Hengari, today said in a statement that the planned demonstrations against the killing of Namibians by the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) are “pointless and wholly misplaced”.
Hengari, in his statement, suggested that the demonstrations and petition scheduled for tomorrow to the Head of state, Hage Geingob, are unnecessary when the president is already urgently seized with the matter.
“Here is why the planned demonstration against the Botswana Defence Force on Namibian soil and the petition to the President is unnecessary. The family of the four deceased members of the Nchindo family reached out to the Press Secretary and requested to see the president. Arrangements for the family to come to the Presidency were made immediately. It deserves emphasis that the President met with the family in record time on 10 November 2020, an occasion during which the bereaved family stated its case and version of what had transpired at length,” Hengari’s statement reads.
He added that Botswana’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, in a phone call with Geingob was in agreement of an urgent joint investigation into the killings.
“After all, President Geingob and President Masisi speak on a regular basis and their relationship is affectionate, which creates ample diplomatic room for an incident of this nature to be solved in a manner that enhances bilateral relations between our two countries. President Geingob also charged the Ministers of International Relations and Cooperation, Safety and Security, including Defence to ensure that the investigation is carried out in the shortest possible time and that the claims by the members of the family are attended to in the most transparent manner,” Hengari concluded.
