Staff Reporter
THE Procurement Unit within the Namibian Police Force (NamPol) will have to make an upfront payment of N$500,000.00 for the translation of Arabic text in the terrorism High Court case involving Jona Hangula.
This was revealed during High Court proceedings on 20 August 2026, in which High Court Judge Hannelie Prinsloo ordered that the matter be postponed to 23 September 2026 to allow for the large number of Arabic documents in the case to be translated by a private company that has offered to provide its services.
State Prosecutor in the matter, Advocate Laurens Campher, said that the procurement process was initiated due to a lack of High Court-admitted Arabic translators, as the only available one had moved abroad.
Hangula faces 19 charges, ranging from terrorism funding and recruiting persons to become members of a terrorist organisation to contravening sections of the Namibian Immigration Act, among others.
The State alleges that between 2015 and 2020, Hangula sought to recruit unemployed Namibian youth to join ISIS and Boko Haram, with the intention of overthrowing the Namibian Government to establish a new non-secular state in Namibia ruled by Muslim law.
It is alleged that Hangula used platforms such as WhatsApp to recruit persons to become members of terrorist organisations or participate in proliferation activities.
The lawyer representing Hangula, Joas Neemwatya, accepted the proposal to translate the Arabic documents, which is expected to take 10 working days. However, he asked that a sworn affidavit be provided confirming that the translators are indeed qualified.
Judge Prinsloo, however, stated that the Prosecutor-General’s Office is well aware of the legal requirements for conducting matters involving translation and ordered that the matter be postponed to 23 September 2026, after which the case will move into the pre-trial phase.
Photo: File
