By: Kelvin Chiringa
City of Windhoek (CoW) mayor Sade Gawanas, who has been arrested after an altercation with law enforcement agents Monday afternoon, has opened a case against the police at Wanaheda police station.
The arrest, which prompted condemnation and outrage, was confirmed by Landless People’s Movement (LPM) national megaphone Eneas Emvula, former mayor Job Amupanda and councillor Ivan Skrywer.
Emvula has, in the meantime, described the arrest as illegal.
He said aggrieved community members called out the mayor in One Nation and that when she arrived to hear what was going on, a police van drove in and interrupted the event.
“As we know, there has been a land allocation issue with the City of Windhoek for many years. As a very active prominent member and chairperson of the City of Windhoek council, she went out to inspect what was going on and whether the residents’ claims were valid,” he said.
Emvula noted: “And in the course of doing that, three so-called police officers arrived. One of them, who was driving the police vehicle with an AK-47 as well in his possession and two other reservists that were also armed with pistols under the disguise that they were also police officers, arrived and disrespectfully interrupted the whole process.”
He said the mayor rightfully identified herself as the mayor of Windhoek after a police officer ignored her identification and exchanged harsh words.
“And a member of the council after which this police officer, whose name we still don’t have as he was in plain clothes, totally ignored the identification of the mayor and exchanged harsh words including insults,” he explains.
According to him, the mayor tried to calm him down to the best of her ability.
“And rather ask why he was behaving in the way he was behaving. At that moment, the officer arrested the mayor with the assistance of the two reservists who threw her at the back of a police van and drove off, said Emvula.
He also said that after residents stopped the van, a pastor in the area tried to plead with the officers for Gawanas as well as officials that were in the company of the mayor.
The officer said he did not care “Who Sade Gawanas is”, according to Emvula.
He added, “this individual also uttered very tribalist remarks simply because the mayor is not Oshiwambo speaking. That led the whole group, including the mayor, to approach the station commander at Wanaheda police station.”
Amupanda told The Villager that he spoke to mayor Gawanas, and she informed him of what transpired.
“Whatever happened, arresting and harassing a mayor while on duty is misplaced and demonstrates the police’s unprofessionalism. No matter the circumstances, the police is supposed to handle the matter differently than arresting and harassing the mayor,” he said
Councilor Skrywer heavily criticised the arrest of Gawanas as indicative of police brutality.
He said, “Yes, yes, she has been arrested. I do not even know how to answer this officially because this confirms the brutality of our police. They are saying that they were driving past, and people with the mayor were on the road or something like that. There is just nothing that is coming out. Hence the mayor is currently busy opening a case. Once she comes out, we will get to the story’s depth.”
