Where are our people?

In the wake of the conclusion of the marathon Caprivi treason trial the families of close to 15 missing Kxoe San people are demanding that the government release information about the whereabouts of their relatives. The 15 San people went missing in 2000 while in the custody of the Namibian Special Field Force during a State of Emergency declared after the failed 1999 secession attempt in the then Caprivi Region, now Zambezi. Namibian Sun has seen the names of the missing San people. Since their disappearance the families have been pleading for their release and in 2001 an application by acting Kxoe Chief Thaddeus Chedau and others was dismissed by the High Court. A report submitted by human rights activists Phil Ya Nangoloh to the United Nations in 2009 said it was suspected that their bodies were buried in a mass grave at the Oshikome cattle post. According to the report the Kxoe San people were rounded up at Chetto, Bwabwata, Omega, Mutc’iku and Bagani villages in the Western Caprivi. It said the government had indicated that the 15 San people had escaped from Special Field Force custody and their footprints were tracked some 30 km into Angola before the trail was lost. Speaking to Namibian Sun yesterday, Dakomba Johanes Tspau, who is representing the families, said the government must come clean. “We want them to tell us where our people are because government lied to us and informed us at some point that they returned back home, but since 2000 they have not set foot back here,” said Tspau. “Their children are grown and they are asking for their parents while others left poor mothers and siblings who want to see them again and need them a lot.” He said if the 15 are still being kept somewhere, their relatives deserve to know where that is and to hear their voices again. “If they are killed we want to take this matter up with the High Court but if they are alive we want to see them or we want the government to bring them back to us. “We need them; we are really missing our people and we want the government to tell us the truth as to where they were kept or taken.” Tspau threatened to take the matter international should the government fail to listen to them. “Our innocent people cannot be missing just like that from our own government’s hands. This happened to us because we do not have any leader in Namibia to fight for our rights.” Ya Nangoloh yesterday said the onus now rests on President Hage Geingob to come to the aid of these grieving families. “Geingob has generated some popularity among the people as a down-to-earth person who is willing to help solve people’s problems,” said Ya Nangoloh. “This problem is not a new one as it dates back to the time of President Sam Nujoma but nothing was done even during the period of President Hifikepunye Pohamba.” He stressed that independent Namibia cannot have people weeping over missing family members and if it is not sorted out, this matter will reflect badly on Geingob. ELVIS MURARANGANDA