Swapo princes go to war

University academic, youth leader and founder of the Affirmative Repositioning (AR), Job Amupanda, is refusing to back down as a N$500 000 lawsuit brought by current justice minister Sacky Shanghala threatens to hang their and the ruling party's dirty laundry in public.Already, Amupanda has lodged court papers in defence of the lawsuit, in which he claims Shanghala has been his political rival since 2009/10, to the extent that he allegedly made several false allegations against him, particularly after he formed AR in 2014.Amupanda is under threat to cough up N$500 000 after he went on a social media tirade against Shanghala last year, who was then the country's attorney-general.Shanghala filed the lawsuit on 4 December 2017.He is claiming N$500 000 in damages, along with costs on an attorney-client scale. In his papers, Shanghala told the court that during a symposium on United States attorney-generals, held in Doha, Qatar in November last year, Amupanda had posed questions to a panel during a breakaway session. During these questions, he had allegedly remarked “that the people of Namibia were shocked that the Namibian attorney-general is not a practising attorney and thus not subject to the rules of practice and ethical conduct pertaining to practising legal practitioners”.Shanghala says Amupanda also made comments regarding the British lawyers Shanghala had roped in to consult on government's genocide reparations negotiations with Germany, saying they had “pretended to work for 23 hours whilst it was biologically impossible to do so”.Amupanda had also asked the panel's advice on corrupt attorney-generals.Shanghala told the court Amupanda then took to social media and posted the following: “Session Two, we are doing a Case Study on US Attorney Generals. Insightful discussions that makes me agonize about a joke we have as Attorney General (sic).”Amupanda had also allegedly called Shanghala corrupt in a later posting.On Twitter, Shanghala said Amupanda had tweeted a photo of him and deputy prime minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah and wrote: “My son, haven't you stollen enough? PLEASE my son, it's enough. Don't steal anymore. If imaginations could become TRUTH! (sic).”In his court papers, Amupanda, justified his tirade as follows: “Attorney-general Sacky Shanghala is a public official attracting immense public interest and his name has resonated in many controversial and corruption scandals. The outcome of this action therefore proceeds beyond and is broader than a defamation action.”The lawsuit is currently under case management in the Windhoek High Court.According to Amupanda, it concerns the fight against corruption, the importance of academic freedom and freedom of expression in the fight against corruption.Amupanda claims Shanghala had labelled him and others as “aspiring criminals” and made false claims they were going to form a political party, following the creation of AR.He also alleged Shanghala hired South African legal practitioners and incurred a legal bill of over N$10 million in respect of the Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF).Amupanda said it was also publicly reported that Shanghala was involved in the settlement of invoices in relation to the country's mass housing programme and had faced public calls for his dismissal or redeployment.Shanghala submitted Amupanda's social media postings about him were false and defamatory in that they impute he is engaged in fraudulent or corrupt activities and is receiving kickbacks from the fees invoiced by the UK lawyers.“Apart from defamatory meanings of the publications it carried the additional sting that I am not a law-abiding citizen, I am a corrupt individual, engaged in criminal activities and corrupt practices, I am without moral fibre and generally not a fit and proper person for the office of the attorney-general,” Shanghala submitted.Amupanda said Shanghala was removed as AG by President Hage Geingob at the first cabinet meeting of this year.He also claims the head of state had publicly repeated certain instances of corruption, maladministration and incompetence against members of the cabinet, including Shanghala.“He served the shortest tenure as attorney-general,” Amupanda said.According to him, Shanghala's short term was due to various direct allegations of corruption, maladministration and incompetence, as reported by the media, members of the public, cartoonists, the public, academics, intellectuals, commentators and newspaper article contributors. He said he co-founded AR, which aims to restore the dignity of Namibians, as it relates to land and housing.Amupanda said he further fights against all forms of social injustice and ills, including corruption.According to him, as a social justice activist, he has assumed the public duty to speak out against corruption and expose all instances of maladministration and graft. As a result, members of the public see him as their voice against corruption and maladministration, particularly when such corruption involves public and political functionaries such as Shanghala.Amupanda argued it is public knowledge that corruption in Namibia's public sector has been corrosive element and has greatly contributed to the eradication of public confidence in public institutions and government agencies.Judge Shafimana Ueitele postponed the matter to 6 September for the hearing to begin. Celeste Coetzee appears on behalf of Shanghala, while Kadhila Amoomo represents Amupanda. FRED GOEIEMAN

Swapo princes go to war

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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Swapo princes go to war

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-16

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