Zorena Jantze
DR. McAlbert, Hengari, the former Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, today sang like a canary, painting the scene of what he described as a military style arrest in front of the opulent uptown Francesco restaurant, which saw police close off the entire street, moments before he tried to leave with the alleged rape victim to Shikongo Law Chambers where they would figure out a way to retract the criminal case of rape against him.
Hengari (60) and his 30 year old co-accused, who is the alleged rape victim’s brother, face three counts, namely, obstructing the court of justice, contravening Section 34(a) of the Anti-Corruption Act (Act 8 of 2003) and incitement to commit under Section 18(2)(b) of the Riotous Assemblies Act of 1976 after they allegedly tried to offer a bribe of N$ 220 200 to a 21 year old woman who had accused the minister of raping her in the year 2019.
During his bail application before Magistrate Monica Andjaba, he said he would plead not guilty to all charges, and cited the Latin phrase, ex nihilo nihil fit, “nothing begets, nothing.”
“There is no charge there and there shall never be a charge on allegations of rape,” Dr. Hengari said, adding that the Prosecutor General confirmed that they are not dealing with a case of rape, and that they are dealing with the obstruction of justice charges.” Dr. Hengari said.
With regard to whether he paid a bribe to the rape victim, Dr. Hengari quoted the definition of a gift in the Oxford Dictionary, “to give something to someone, meaning, freely transferring possession of it”.
“If we are all in concurrence that that is the meaning of gift, my answer is a resounding no. When you look at all these charges, the intersection is the N$ 222 200 allegedly promised to the rape complainant. Now, I don’t know whether the state either by commission or omission conflated two sets of monies. Because there is no N$ 222 200. There is a N$ 200 that the rape complainant in my car, together with a friend of hers, requested when I insisted that I would give no money to her and that we have to get to a lawyer as agreed. They asked for a N$ 200 to get there. Then there is the N$ 220 000 which was in my bag in different sets of compartments because I had come from the farm and I was going to divide that money for the things I had to do. This N$ 220 000 is what the police found on me, at my legs when they arrested me. We must be honest, we must not rile public opinion, so called public interest, we must be honest, this case is then about a N$ 200.” Dr. Hengari said, describing the day he had been arrested, 26th April 2025.
He further contended that the N$220 000 that had been in his bag was to pay farm workers.
Dr. Hengari also told the court that the rape victim had tried to request money from him since October 2024.
“The last time I had any contact was in September or just the beginning of October 2024. Basically, the complainant was seeking money from me. I said no. She sent me a message that said, ‘you will see, not even your darling Sarah will assist you,’” Dr. Hengari said.
He added that by 2nd October 2024, he received messages from a certain Finna, who accused him of raping a minor, and made a demand, with a video with the logo of Anirep, the company he had chaired at that time, and gave him an hour to commit to paying for the rape complainant, her mother and her baby to go to Canada, or face his name being dirtied on social media.
“I of course refused, do your best, and there was a whole torrent of social media abuse against me. Some of them that I raped a boy, and in order to keep the family quiet, bought him a car, it was all sorts of accusations,” Dr. Hengari said.
He added that the rape victim chose Canada as it is favourable for abused women and LGBTQ, as it offers special asylum.
