ID for Chinese quite common
Home affairs minister Frans Kapofi said there is nothing wrong, or illegal, about issuing Namibian citizenship to Chinese nationals.
Home affairs minister Frans Kapofi has defended Chinese nationals with Namibian identification documents, saying the criticism against the Chinese is unfair and borders on xenophobia.
This is despite the fact that hundreds of Namibia's first people remain stateless, without the basic right to an identity.
Kapofi reacted to the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) campaign against the easy access to national documents by Chinese people while hundreds of marginalised Namibians still have no national documents.
“Naturalisation is allowed in our law. Namibians should never feel threatened by one or two Chinese who have naturalised in the land of the brave,” he said.
Kapofi said he saw the ID document that has been circulating on social media and confirmed that it was issued 20 years ago in 1998, because the Chinese national lived and naturalised in Namibia.
However, the ID document circulated by Job Amupanda is that of Yiu Wash Yeung born in Hong Kong in 1963.
The document was issued in 2015.
Namibians also criticised the national identification document of now controversial Chinese businessman Jack Huang, who also faces serious fraud charges.
There have also been a number of claims that Huang has a Namibian diplomatic passport despite being surrounded by controversy.
The minister admitted that there is more than one Chinese national with documents but said it is not uncommon.
“Let us not politicise things that are not political.”
Kapofi also rejected the issue that marginalised Namibians are struggling to obtain national documents.
“We know about those [Namibians] that do not have ID cards, but one Chinese ID card cannot be distributed amongst the hundreds of people you are referring to,” he said.
JEMIMA BEUKES
This is despite the fact that hundreds of Namibia's first people remain stateless, without the basic right to an identity.
Kapofi reacted to the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) campaign against the easy access to national documents by Chinese people while hundreds of marginalised Namibians still have no national documents.
“Naturalisation is allowed in our law. Namibians should never feel threatened by one or two Chinese who have naturalised in the land of the brave,” he said.
Kapofi said he saw the ID document that has been circulating on social media and confirmed that it was issued 20 years ago in 1998, because the Chinese national lived and naturalised in Namibia.
However, the ID document circulated by Job Amupanda is that of Yiu Wash Yeung born in Hong Kong in 1963.
The document was issued in 2015.
Namibians also criticised the national identification document of now controversial Chinese businessman Jack Huang, who also faces serious fraud charges.
There have also been a number of claims that Huang has a Namibian diplomatic passport despite being surrounded by controversy.
The minister admitted that there is more than one Chinese national with documents but said it is not uncommon.
“Let us not politicise things that are not political.”
Kapofi also rejected the issue that marginalised Namibians are struggling to obtain national documents.
“We know about those [Namibians] that do not have ID cards, but one Chinese ID card cannot be distributed amongst the hundreds of people you are referring to,” he said.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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