Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA is expected to ratify a treaty that would see Namibians in Angola’s correctional facilities serve their sentences at home, says minister of defence and veterans affairs Frans Kapofi.
Kapofi announced this during the last Namibian-Angola Joint Commission on defence and security held at Swakopmund last week. “Angola has already ratified that treaty. It’s only for Namibia to expedite the process,” said Kapofi.
Namibia and Angola signed a memorandum of understanding on prison and correctional services in April this year. The agreement was signed by minister of home affairs, immigration, safety and security Albert Kawana during the bilateral meeting on public security with his Angolan counterpart Eugénio Laborinho.
The deputy minister of home affairs, Daniel Kashikola, last week tabled the motion for parliament to approve the ratification of the agreement on the transfer of sentenced offenders between Namibia and Angola.
By the end of October there were 33 Namibians in Angolan correctional facilities. Namibia’s ambassador to Angola, Patrick Nandago, confirmed that a large number of Namibians are detained in the Cunene province at the Peu-Peu correctional facility near Xangongo.
According to Nandago, there is one female offender in Luanda, who was involved in drug trafficking from Brazil. “Three others are at Benguela. They will not qualify to come and serve their sentence at home, because when they were arrested, they were also found in possession of fraudulent Angolan national documents,” said Nandago.
Meanwhile there is no hope for the release of Namibians who illegally crossed into Angola when the borders were closed as a measure to curb the spread Covid-19.
Most of them are small traders who buy bales of second-hand clothing in Angola to resell in Namibia. Many are held at the Ondjiva correctional facility.
“They must have violated the Angolan border because that border is closed. Therefore going there under the pretext of being a trader, you are a candidate for arrest because you have entered that country illegally. There are laws in that country,” said Kapofi.
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