Africa-Press – Namibia. ELIASER NDEYANALE and ESTER MBATHERA
TWENTY-TWO Namibians are serving jail terms in South African correctional facilities for criminal offences ranging from aggravated robbery and housebreaking to attempted murder.
South African department of correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo revealed the figures this week in response to an enquiry by The Namibian two weeks ago. He however said there are no Namibian women in their prisons.
Nxumalo added that two Namibians were arrested for possessing illegal weapons and another on drug charges.
According to him, 16 Namibians are incarcerated at 11 correctional facilities in the Western Cape, while others are detained at Modderbee in the Gauteng province. In addition, two Namibians are kept at St Albans Maximum and St Albans Medium B correctional facilities in the Eastern Cape, while two are being held at Bizzah Makhate CCA and Losperfontein correctional facilities in the Free State and Limpopo provinces.
Nxumalo said it is unlikely that Namibian citizens serving prison terms in South Africa could be transferred to Namibia, as Namibia and South Africa do not have a transfer agreement in place.
South Africa is formulating a policy on the transfer of sentenced foreign nationals.
The commissioner general of the Namibian Correctional Services, Raphael Hamunyela, said South Africa does not have a law that allows the transfer of inmates from South Africa to Namibian correctional facilities.
“We only have [agreements with] Zambia and Angola. We are currently finalising with Botswana,” Hamunyela told The Namibian yesterday.
One of the Namibians in South African prisons is Urbanus Shaumbwako, who is also one of the five Namibian men accused of breaking into South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm house at Phala Phala game farm and stealing US$4 million (about N$60 million).
South African media reported that Shaumbwako, who is originally from Okalongo in Omusati region, was arrested in 2020 after evading a roadblock in Cape Town. Shaumbwako was reportedly found in possession of about 12 firearms that were registered under the Namibian Police.
The Namibian was informed that more than 170 Namibian police guns were stolen and sold in Cape Town between 2019 and last year.
The guns – Berettas, Brownings, Walther P38s, and CZ75s – were sold for anything between N$15 000 and N$25 000, especially at Phillipi location in Cape Town.
However, police spokesperson deputy commissioner Kauna Shikwambi told The Namibian last month that there is no record of police guns trafficked from Namibia to South Africa.
She said one of the stolen police guns was found with Paulus Mweshininga Tomas (64). Tomas was found with one pistol and 50 rounds of ammunition. He was arrested and charged with the possession of suspected stolen firearms and ammunition, in possession of a firearm without a licence and defeating the course of justice.
“He appeared in the Okahao Magistrate’s Court and transferred to the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura for the matter to be joined with other Katutura cases,” Shikwambi said.
Tomas appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in Katutura on 16 June 2022 where he was granted bail of N$1 000. The matter was posponed to 11 August pending further police investigations.
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