Hate Speech Has No Place In Namibia Under Constitution 

By Phil ya Nangoloh, Omuthiya

1. My fellow Namibians. At least 4 people were mowed down yesterday with an AR-15 style assault rifle. This incident occurred at Apalachee High School, in the town of Winder, in the State of Georgia, in a Babylon (i.e., USA). The shooter was identified as 14 year old Colt Gray, who had a history of making online threats based on hate expression or hate speech.

2. Although there’s hitherto to no universal definition of hate speech under international human rights law, UN defines hate speech or expression as “any kind of communication in speech, writing or behavior, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group based on who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender or other identity”. 

3. In basic terms, hate speech is an expression of extreme enmity or active hostility towards a person based on his or her personal characteristics ( such as sex, race, color, sexual orientation) or his or her political affiliation or other social or economic status.

4. Generally, I am referring to the Apalachee High School shooting incident above to draw parallel to hate speech which has been characterizing and dominating political discourse in our country, especially, but not exclusively, since Namibian Independence on March 21 1990. I am deliberately referring to March 21, 1990, because this was when the Namibian Constitution (“NC”) came into force.

5. NC, which is the Supreme Law of Namibia, implicitly and automatically outlaws hate speech in terms of its Preamble and Articles 8, 10, 13, 14, 19,  21(2) and 23 thereof. 

6. However, I am specifically referring to the Apalachee High School shooting incident to draw parallel between the online threats by Colt Gray and the online hate speech this week by our own Sakaria David, resident of Shandumbala boro of Windhoek. 

7. In a lengthy audio clip mainly in ethnic Ambo language and posted online, David, who regards himself as “poor,” threatened to shoot and summarily execute myself, and any other persons in Namibia whom he regards as “affluent” or having a monthly income as well as ethnic Kwanyamas regardless of their economic or other status.

8. David associates himself with and identifies himself as a member, supporter, or sympathiser of Dr Panduleni Itula’s Independent Patriots for Change (“IPC”),  a political party which was founded only some 4 years ago.

9. It is significant to point out here that whereas in the recent past, similar hate speech came almost exclusively from certain (not all) ruling SWAPO leaders, members, supporters or sympathisers and was directed almost exclusively against real or perceived leaders, members, supporters or sympathisers of opposition political parties, civil society actors or certain members of the judiciary, ever since around 2012 hate speech has been consistently and persistently directed against incumbent SWAPO leaders, members, supporters or sympathisers.

10. Online hate speech in Namibia has been aggravated by abuse of social media platforms as well as by real or perceived powerlessness on the part of Namibia’s law enforcement agencies, such as the Namibian Police, to effectively and efficiently combat online violent extremism and similar emerging crimes.

11. There is also growing public opinion that the Office of Prosecutor General is either reluctant or incapable of prosecuting hate speech. 

12. Hate speech is, in any event, a grave common law crime, also known as crimen injuria, in terms of the Criminal Procedures Act 1977 (51 of 1977), as amended.


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