A grave offence in every way

PHIL YA NANGOLOH OF NAMRIGHTS WRITES:

My fellow Namibians, myself and NamRights strongly condemn the insightful and hateful references made by one Michael Amushelelo during a public gathering in Windhoek.

In my opinion, these utterances are clearly and convincingly intended to incite hatred, discrimination, hostility and public violence. Hence, there is a clear and present danger of such utterances resulting in public hatred, discrimination, hostility and violence. As such, these utterances constitute not only a criminal offense of crimen injuria in terms of our common law, but also a grave offence in terms of our Constitutional and human rights law. Such utterances are in any event totally impermissible and repugnant to our democratic society.

In terms of our human rights law, any speech that expresses or incites hatred is not only subject to lawful limitation or restrictions as contemplated by Articles 13(1), 17(1), 17(3) and 19 of the Namibian Constitution, but they directly conflict with an explicit obligation imposed upon all members of the Namibian Police and Office of the Prosecutor General by inter alia the provisions of Articles 21(2) of the Namibian Constitution as well as Articles 19(3) and 20(2) of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”).