A Namibian pressure group has launched a crusade against the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) saddened by alleged killings of their patriots suspected to be poachers.
The group has poured scorn on Botswana Government’s decision to open an inquest into the deaths of their four citizens gunned down last year.
In a strongly worded document seen by this publication, Namibians Lives Matter movement states that the decision to open an inquest in the case of the Nchindo brothers is nothing but miscarriage of Justice.
The four Namibians and their Zambian cousin were shot dead by the BDF last year on suspicion that they were poachers while their compatriots insist they were fishermen.
“As far as we know, Murder cases in Botswana can only be tried by the High Courts in Botswana which are situated in Francistown, Gaborone and Lobatse and appealed at the Court of Appeal. Yet the government of Botswana opts to treat a case of murder as an ordinary case. There is no murder case that can be heard in Kasane or any place in the Chobe District. This exercise is a miscarriage of Justice,” the movement states in one of the documents.
They stated that Botswana government is just displaying a smokescreen by taking an approach that puts Botswana to an advantage adding that the autopsy report and the joint investigation report should have been tested in a competent court of law.
“What Botswana is doing is not new, exactly nine years ago, Botswana murdered two Namibians (Nyambe and Munguni on 17 July 2012) using the shoot-to-kill policy that they are now denying. The BDF claimed that Nyambe assumed a retaliatory mode when asked to freeze,’ the Namibian Lives Matter said.
However, the movement said, there were several apparent inconsistencies in the military’s version of what transpired that night:
An inquest report found that Nyambe’s bullet wound was in the back of the head, suggesting he was fleeing when he was hit. Previous autopsy reports proved that BDF killed people that were fleeing yet the BDF official version said otherwise. It is for the same reason that the autopsy report of the slain Nchindo brothers will not be released by Botswana because what is in the report clearly implicates BDF.
“Another inconsistent version of BDF in the death of Nyambe and Munguni was that an elephant had been killed by the Namibians yet Namibian investigators were denied access to the dead animal when they wanted to see it. In the case of the Nchindo brothers, the so called Joint Investigation was actually not a joint one as we are made to believe, it was rather an investigation where Namibian investigators were mere observers,” the movement said.
It also argued that the third issue was that the dead men were allegedly found in possession of elephant tusks but no evidence of a fresh elephant carcass was produced. The same manner in which BDF claimed that the Nchindo brothers were poachers yet no horns or gun was found.
“The bone of contention here is that Botswana is clearly not taking the death of the Nchindo brothers as a serious matter that warrants serious consideration. That is why Botswana is not taking this matter to the High Courts of Botswana, which are not in Kasane. This is but a cosmetic inquest that Botswana opened as an extension of Botswana’s highly manipulative and cunning system,” Namibian Lives Matter argued.
The movement further stated that “The inquest finding by Botswana magistrate Gofaone Morweng on the deaths of Nyambe and Munguni clearing the four BDF soldiers of wrongdoing, Morweng said: “They applied caution to the situation by providing illumination … and their action did not constitute so gross a negligence as to constitute criminal liability.”
“We don’t expect anything serious to come out of this inquest because of what previous inquests in Botswana that ruled in favour of trigger happy BDF even when evidence was in favour of the slain Namibians,” the movement.
It added that; “That is why it too Botswana seven months to take a decision on the Nchindo case. The Botswana Government opted for an option that lowers the magnitude of the crime and chose a method that is difficult to assess because it is not independent in the sense that no Namibian was ever even invited to attend and assess the processes fully.”
The movement has also approached international human rights groups to notify them of its position on inquest.
“Nine months Botswana after the BDF mercilessly murdered the Nchindo Brothers and their cousin, Botswana decided to open an inquest which in our analysis is biased because there is no Namibian on the inquest and hence we need to engage in order to seek your assistance and intervene the movement said.
The inquest into the killings of the said Namibians is expected to commence before the Kasane Magistrate Court in November this year.
