Teargassed NYC delegate reports ongoing health issues

A delegate at last weekend's National Youth Council (NYC) general assembly says she remains under medical care after collapsing during the tear-gas chaos that brought the gathering in Swakopmund to a halt.

Gilia Orlam told Namibian Sun last Thursday she has been placed on oxygen several times since returning from the assembly and faces further scans after struggling to breathe in the days since.

Orlam, who is asthmatic, said she collapsed twice while trying to escape the hall after tear gas was released when violence erupted.

“I was literally looking for air,” she said.

She said delegates returned to their regions on Monday still coughing and dealing with the effects of the gas.

By Tuesday, she said, her breathing had worsened to the point that she returned to a doctor, was put on oxygen twice and referred for X-rays. She was again placed on oxygen the following day and admitted to hospital.

Orlam said she and another affected delegate were due to undergo CT scans, while other delegates were also still receiving medical attention.

She said one colleague had been critically ill after the incident and another was experiencing swelling on one side of her body. Orlam did not name them but said the group had been left shaken by the ordeal.

“We’re not doing good, we’re really, really not,” she said.

‘A whole commotion’

According to Orlam, the assembly began on Friday with a roll call of delegates before a motion was moved to bring forward the election from Sunday to Saturday. She said the proposal was adopted after the house was divided and a vote was taken.

The council continued with reports and presentations on Saturday after what Orlam described as a quorum was confirmed.

However, tensions flared after lunch when the interim board reportedly returned from a meeting with education minister Sanet Steenkamp.

Orlam claimed delegates questioned the interim board before the electoral committee and police officers took their places at the front of the hall ahead of the election process.

She alleged that some delegates moved towards the podium, where a fight broke out. Members of the electoral committee were pushed, chased from the hall and hit with chairs, she said.

“It was a whole commotion,” Orlam said.

She said the lights later went off, windows were closed and chairs were thrown before tear gas was released. When the lights came back on, people began coughing and panicking.

The main exit was narrow and congested, she said, forcing some delegates to leave through a back door near the kitchen. Several people collapsed outside, while others were rushed for medical treatment, she said.

Orlam said the effects were not limited to delegates from one camp or region, saying anyone inside the venue could have been affected.

She also dismissed claims that some people had pretended to collapse, saying she could provide medical records to show she had been treated.

“What is hurting me the most is hearing that we pretended,” she said.

“I don’t even know if it is safe to speak or say your piece," she said.

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