Africa-Press – Namibia. … Ya Nangoloh stands his ground over alleged IPC defamatory remarks
NAMRIGHTS executive director Phil ya Nangoloh has refused to retract alleged defamatory comments he made about the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) last week.
These comments were allegedly shared via various text messages circulating on WhatsApp groups. The IPC on Friday threatened to sue Ya Nangoloh for N$500 000 for reportedly linking a certain Jonas Mukeshe to the party.
Mukeshe circulated an audio clip on WhatsApp in which he allegedly says he wished president Hage Geingob dead. Ya Nangoloh claimed Mukeshe was a member of the IPC, led by Panduleni Itula.
The party, through its lawyer Henry Shimutwikeni, wrote to Ya Nangoloh on Friday, demanding that he withdraws this statement and apologises for it by 15 September.
Ya Nangoloh yesterday said the IPC’s demand is an attempt to silence him. “I think the IPC believes I am the biggest threat to their message reaching the wanted audience. Hence I am the biggest threat to their very existence.
“I don’t know Mukeshe personally, however, he has been one of those Namibians defending the IPC and attacking me for a very long time from Walvis Bay,” he said.
When asked whether he would retract his statement that Mukeshe is an IPC member, Ya Nangoloh said: “No, never.” Ya Nangoloh said the IPC’s demand was “frivolous” and that if the party took him to court, the case would be “dead on arrival”.
He said the IPC’s case would be dismissed by the High Court on the premises that political parties, like the government, cannot sue individuals for defamation.
“There will therefore be no apology whatsoever by Phil ya Nangoloh, and mystery Johnnie Walker [Itula] can proceed to the High Court if he so wishes,” he said. The IPC denied that Mukeshe is a member of the party, saying his name does not appear on the party’s database.
“Our instructions are that by authoring and distributing the said false messages you maliciously intended for your message to be understood by recipients of the said message to mean that the IPC is associated with persons who threaten the life of the president of the Republic of Namibia, and/or that by extension the IPC has threatened the life of the president of the Republic of Namibia,” Shimutwikeni wrote.
Contacted for comment yesterday Mukeshe denied mentioning “anyone’s name” in the audio clip. “I also did not say who I wished dead. Ya Nangoloh is guessing,” he said.
Mukeshe said he sent an audio clip to a WhatsApp group, which one of the group’s members then shared outside the group. He said he then received a message from Ya Nangoloh threatening “to deal with me”.
“He then shared my pictures and details of my residence on social media,”Mukeshe said.
He said the state opened a case against him at the Walvis Bay Police Station on Thursday. “I am not a member of the IPC … I am just a follower,” he said.
