I’m not a homophobe – Dunaiski

JEMIMA BEUKES WINDHOEKFormer ambassador to India Puis Dunaiski, who tweeted that justice minister Yvonne Dausab is a ‘pagan’ and ‘totalitarian’ for allegedly pushing same-sex and abortion legislation, says he is not homophobic, but rather a convicted Christian.Dausab is increasingly under attack from the Christian community after it was announced that government is considering abolishing the common law offences of sodomy and unnatural sexual offences.Dunaiski, who has apologised to Dausab and deleted his tweet this week, however stuck to his guns and said Namibia has other more pressing issues that need to be prioritised.According to him, per capita, Namibia is the most Christianised population in the world, adding that countries are breaking up because of raging “heavy fights” about abortion and homosexuality.He said while he respects every person’s views, people ought to be more sensitive about Namibia’s Christian beliefs.“We have been already colonised for maybe 120 years and we had that western influence in our countries. That domination and influence of western domination and their culture being rubbed onto us has just caused more division.He said “instead of us pushing for things like abortion and same-sex marriages”, the country should focus on “more of our own problems like tribalism”.“Most of the liberal-minded people are bringing these things on our soil,” he said. Christianity was imported tooHe pointed out that Christianity too was imported into Africa, but added that we now have a new social reality and issues like homosexuality and abortion should not be out on the “front banner”.According to him, issues like homosexuality and abortion are copied from the west and should not be prioritised.“I think people who are pushing this agenda of abortion [and] same-sex marriage are products of western universities and western learning. These things are still strange for us in our cultures or a Namibian reality.“I don’t want to go to the extreme to what the founding father Sam Nujoma said. I would also never persecute any person for their convictions. All I am saying is don’t impose the debate onto us and cause unnecessary cultural divisions,” he said. Personal attacksDausab confirmed that Dunaiski apologised, but said it would have been good for him to do so publicly on Twitter.She added that it is unfortunate that people are increasingly showing their intolerance.“Namibia is a constitutional democracy established as a sovereign, secular democratic and unitary state, founded on the principles of democracy, the rule of law and justice for all.“Also, I think the personal attacks and the body shaming, the references to my ‘round head’ are not warranted because I am primarily responding to issues as the minister of justice, and in this capacity, I must remain objective to the extent that I can.” jemima@namibiansun.com

I’m not a homophobe – Dunaiski

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-19

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I’m not a homophobe – Dunaiski

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-19

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