The education ministry has condemned tribal comments made on social media by a Bethanie-based teacher in which he said given an AK he would kill all the Nama people.
Sauana Lukas Kampale (24) has since appeared in court and was given N$2 000 bail with his case postponed to 16 July 2020.
Kampale was not asked to plead when he appeared in Bethanie Magistrate’s Court Monday.
Executive director Sanet Steenkamp said the education ministry condemns this act in the strongest terms possible as something that is unacceptable and should not happen again. According to Steenkamp, some Namibians have called for Kampale’s dismissal.
“The disparaging and disrespectful WhatsApp profile posting that was allegedly made by Kampale, a teacher employed at Schmelenville Combined School, is not only denigrating the dignity and worth of people of Nama origin, but has got the potential of disturbing the peaceful co-existence that prevailed amongst Namibian citizens hailing from diverse cultural, linguistic, tribal, and racial backgrounds in Bethanie and beyond.
“Threats of doing physical harm to Nama people from a teacher, who is employed at a school where the majority of learners enrolled are of Nama origin, are also unacceptable since those do not make any positive contribution to Nation-building,” Steenkamp said.
Steenkamp, however, stated that the Republic of Namibia is a Constitutional democracy where the rule of law is deemed as sacrosanct.
“In lieu of the fact that the rule of law is supposed to take centre stage even in cases of this nature, and given that Kampale is a public servant, the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture are obliged to follow the due process of law in dealing with this matter as is prescribed in the Public Service Act. 1995 (Act I 3 of 1995),” Steenkamp concluded.
