A police officer manhandling Jemima Beukes
The two journalists who were manhandled on Wednesday by security details at the Windhoek Central Hospital where President Hage Geingob officially opened the isolation facility said they are traumatised.
The Sun journalist Jemima Beukes and The Namibian’s Charmaine Ngatjiheue were manhandled by some security details when they walked into the venue to cover the event.
Both journalists told Eagle FM in separate interviews that the incident traumatised them because nobody did anything to help when they were ill-treated.
“I feel I am being targeted and they mishandled me and the way they handled Charmaine was different. I feel it’s because I have confronted the president and his ministers,” she said.
According to Beukes, she feels she was being targeted because of her inquisitive questions most of which both Geingob and his ministers fail to answer sometimes.
Last week, Beukes put Geingob on the spot when she asked why the president was not wearing a face mask during a press conference at State House when stage 3 of the lockdown was announced.
An agitated Geingob retorted: Use your common. Who do I infect here?
She also gave the health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula tough time when she asked about the conditions surrounding quarantine as well as to why the minister had given false information about the recovery of the Romanian couple.
“I am saying I could be targeted because of the way they manhandled me compared to how they treated Charmaine,” Beukes said.
Ngatjiheue said they walked in after Geingob’s motorcade had driven in because they felt it was not right to be censored most of the times.
“I feel better now although the incident traumatised me when it happened,” Ngatjiheue said, adding that the president saw it happening and did nothing.
State House has since apologised but the journalists said the apology meant nothing, with Beukes saying that it was empty and Ngatjihueu saying it’s too general.
” The Presidency herewith acknowledges the incident that occurred today, Wednesday, 3 June 2020 where members of the media were prevented from entering the Isolation Facility during inauguration by the President.
“The action taken to restrict media was to comply with social distancing regulations as a means to combat the spread of COVID-19.
“The incident happened as a result of miscommunication between the Presidency Media Team and the Ministry of Health and Social Services and is highly regrettable.
“The RSVP list was a precautionary measure in light of the health regulations under the State of Emergency and subsequent actions of the security officials were not of ill intent or deliberate but simply enforcing compliance to regulations.
“We would like to reassure the media that the Presidency values the important role of the media in a healthy democracy and will continue to ensure media freedom as guaranteed in the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia. The Presidency media team extends its most sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused by this incident,” the statement said.
“If they were serious about it, the president should have dealt with it because it happened before his eyes,” Beukes said.
“It is a general apology and not about what happened to Jemima and me. It is vague. It’s like they are saying you guys deserve what happened to you,” Ngatjihueu said.
The two have since filed complaints of assault and harassment against the police.