Africa-Press – Namibia. LANDLESS People’s Movement (LPM) deputy leader Henny Seibeb has asked National Assembly (NA) speaker Peter Katjavivi to investigate an incident in which he was allegedly slapped by deputy minister of finance Maureen Hinda-Mbuende.
In a letter sent to Katjavivi yesterday, Seibeb said he has opened a police case to lay a charge of assault against Hinda-Mbuende, who allegedly damaged his spectacles following a physical encounter between the two in the NA on Wednesday.
The off-camera incident followed after Seibeb’s fellow LPM parliamentarian, Utaara Mootu, confronted the deputy minister, who had earlier rejected a motion that called for an investment conference to look into economic opportunities linked to the Neckartal Dam.
Mootu wanted the NA to discuss investment opportunities and possibilities around the Neckartal Dam in the Berseba constituency in the //Kharas region.
However, Hinda-Mbuende and other Swapo members of parliament (MPs), including minister of labour, industrial relations and employment creation Utoni Nujoma rejected the motion, arguing that a motion dealing with similar points of discussions had already been tabled by a Popular Democratic Movement MP.
In the letter, Seibeb said after that particular session of parliament was adjourned, Mootu confronted Hinda-Mbuende to ask her “why she objected to her motion”. He said he intervened to stop a possible fight between the two women.
“The environment was tense, and after realising the direct talks between two MPs may degenerate, I took a pre-emptive approach and went to restrain or advise Mootu by holding her arm to discontinue the talks,” Seibeb said in the letter. According to him, at that point, the deputy minister “slapped my spectacles off my face”.
“Thereafter, she continued to threaten to throw me with a water bottle. I still don’t understand why Hinda-Mbuende acted in the way she did towards me, especially as I was trying to prevent a potentially explosive conflict from occurring,” he said.
The LPM MP therefore wants Katjavivi to investigate the events that led to his glasses being damaged. Seibeb also wants Katjavivi to ensure that cameras in the NA are turned on immediately at 14h00 daily.
This is because Swapo MPs “use the off-camera moments to hurl insults and initiate scuffles with the opposition MPs,” Seibeb said. “In this instance, Hinda-Mbuende continued to body shame me on social media,” he said.
On Wednesday, Hinda-Mbuende, denied slapping Seibeb, saying the LPM MP was “dramatising events”. According to her, Seibeb was the one who confronted her.
“I couldn’t slap him. I wish I slapped him. Had I slapped him, he wouldn’t be standing,” she said.
“They just want to dramatise things. They must just grow up. They should not be crybabies. How many cases would he have against him if people laid charges against him?”
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