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• Thursday July 7 2016
N$3
Sport
Namibians make PSL moves
with at least three Namibian
international footballers having secured their future when
it comes to club football.
PAGE 19
Prison sex intrigue unfolds
Oscar trial ends with 6 years
Testimony led by the lover of the
murdered prisoner Eddy Gomxob
makes for gripping reading as he told
the court that he broke of the afair
as he did not want to be the wife.
Following this, Gomxob fought with
The murder trial of Oscar Pistorius
has come to an end in the North
Gauteng High Court with Judge
Masipa sentencing the worldfamous blade runner to an efective
six years in prison. Experts are of
him continuously which eventually
led to the murder in the bathroom,
allegedly aided and abetted by another prisoner who was also linked
to the sex triangle.
PAGE 2
the view that he may only serve
three years with good behaviour.
His legal team will not appeal and it
is unclear at this stage whether the
State will appeal.
PAGE 8
ZIM ON THE EDGE
UNREST: Schoolchildren run past
a burning barricade, following a
job boycott called
via social media
platforms, in
Harare yesterday.
A job boycott has
shut down most
of Zimbabwe as
discontent deepens over increasing economic
hardships in the
southern Africa
country. Read
more on page 8.
PHOTO: NAMPA/AP
Parliament
divided over
Liquor Bill
POLICE MORTUARY BURSTING AT THE SEAMS
Body count
reaches
crisis level
JEMIMA BEUKES
JANA-MARI SMITH
The police mortuary in Windhoek urgently needs money
from the government to cremate unclaimed bodies that
are clogging up the system.
A
t least ten post-mortems cannot
be performed at the police mortuary in Windhoek this week
because of a severely overcrowded
cold room.
The room is designed to hold 24
bodies but it now holds 180.
During a visit to the police mortuary yesterday, journalists were informed that most of the 180 bodies
are unclaimed and there is no money
to bury or cremate them.
During a brief look inside the cold
room, bodies could be seen piled on
top of each other, on trolleys and on
the loor, as mortuary technicians
desperately tried to ind space.
Several staf members said this
situation is undigniied and plead-
Find us on
ed with the public to claim the bodies of their relatives and give them a
digniied burial.
A mortuary technician said 10
bodies in line for post-mortems to
determine the cause of death could
not be transferred from the state
hospital mortuary because of a lack
of space.
Deputy Commissioner Jooste
Mbandeka, head of the Namibian
Police’s forensic pathology division,
described the situation at the mortuary as “catastrophic”, noting that
in his more than two decades working at the mortuary “it was never
like this.”
He explained that the facility was
designed to store 24 fresh bodies in
UNDIGNIFIED: Bodies covered with plastic bags fill every possible space in the
Windhoek police mortuary. PHOTO: JANA-MARI SMITH
addition to six decomposed bodies.
A police statement this week urgently called on Namibians who are
missing relatives to come forward
and identify the bodies in order to
make space for new bodies.
The police furthermore asked that
people who have neglected to collect the bodies of family members
do so immediately.
Dr Paul Ludik, head of the National Forensic Science Institute, yester-
day said the root cause of the overcrowded police mortuary is friends
and relatives who don’t claim bodies.
He said the mortuary is meant
for temporary storage until postmortems can be performed. Once a
death certiicate is issued, a directive is issued to remove the body as
soon as possible.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Safety Minister Charles Namoloh has questioned the
transparency of the Liquor
Board, arguing that most
people who serve on the body
own shebeens and may be
biased.
He was speaking in the National Assembly this week during the tabling of the Liquor
Amendment Bill.
According to Namoloh, such
bills must be widely discussed
so that afected communities
can be informed about the nature of the laws. The act stipulates that no person may be
granted a licence for the sale
of liquor within a prescribed
distance from a school, a place
of worship, a hospital or a residential area. It further states
that a licence may be granted
when written consent has been
given by all home owners in the
residential area situated within
the prescribed distance of the
proposed shebeen.
Deputy Speaker Loide Kasingo, however, took issue with
that and said the clause that
provides for consent must be
erased, because according to
her, alcohol is the source of all
evil.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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2
NEWS
Th ursday Ju ly 7 2 0 16
Liquor
EVIL: Parliamentarians want
shebeens
away from
residential
areas.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Parliamentarians also questioned
why the amendment act excluded
special liquor licences, which according to them are the biggest
concern in the country.
According to DTA parliamentarian
Elma Dienda, churches and schools
can apply for a special liquor licence to sell alcohol after hours
- something she believes must be
addressed.
DTA president McHenry Venaani
said lawmakers must consider the
fact that some people would lose
their income if shebeens were
closed.
PHOTO: GARWIN
BEUKES
INMATE SAYS HARDSHIP FORCED HIM INTO RELATIONSHIP
Body count
Toiletries for
sex in prison
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Ludik said mortuary staf are
very resourceful in ensuring
that friends and family of the deceased are made aware that the
body is at the mortuary. “We are
exhaustive in our approach,” he
said.
However, as unclaimed bodies
pile up, Ludik said it starts afecting the mortuary’s operations.
‘No money’
FRED GOEIEMAN
The sexual intrigues that
led to the murder of Eddy
Gomxob in Windhoek
Central Prison are being
revealed in the High Court.
T
he reasons behind the fatal
ight in the bathroom of the
Windhoek Central Prison on
18 January 2012 are unfolding in
the testimony of a former partner
of the deceased in the prison court
of the Windhoek High Court.
Herman Rukero testiied to presiding Judge Dinnah Uusiku that
in 2009, he had had sexual relations for one month with the deceased, Eddy Gomxob (33).
When he later decided to discontinue the relationship persistent
ighting erupted between them as
he refused to be the ‘woman’ in the
relationship.
He told the court that on that
fateful day he and a fellow prisoner, Bendictus Afrikaner, killed
Gomxob by stabbing him with
sharpened pieces of wire. The deceased had 11 stab wounds on his
body.
A fellow inmate, Andreas Neyulu, yesterday testified that he
witnessed continued ighting between Rukero and the Gomxob. He
said in 2012 when he inquired as
to why they were ighting, the accused told him that Gomxob wanted him to be his wife and that since
he was a man he did not want to
be a wife.
At a later stage, he said Gomxob
told him that the ighting was because of “those two kids”, referring to Rukero and Afrikaner.
“The two kids do not see me.
Today you will collect either my
corpse or Rukero’s corpse,” Neyulu said Gomxob told him.
Rukero initially told the court on
Tuesday that in 2009 when he was
imprisoned at a very young age, he
had no family to support him and
as a result experienced hardship in
the prison.
NAMIBIA
Today’s weather:
WEATHER FORECAST
Windhoek
PRISON SEX: Benedictus Afrikaner, left, and Hermanus Rukero, two of the accused in the prison murder trial.
PHOTO: FRED GOEIEMAN
“The hardship forced me into
having sex with the deceased in
exchange for toiletries,” Rukero
testiied.
He stressed that the relationship started in 2009 and lasted
only a month. When he stopped it
Gomxob did not accept it and consequently there were continuous
ights between them.
The accused denied allegations
that he had also intimate relationship with Afrikaner and described
such allegations as lies.
He and his co-accused, Afrikaner and Maleachi Seibeb, are
facing charges of murder and defeating or obstructing the course
of justice, or attempting to do so.
At the start of their trial in 2015 all
three accused denied guilt. Rukero further testiied that Gomxob
was jealous and consequently they
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However, Deputy Minister of
Safety Daniel Kashikola said the
government must weigh this loss of
income against the number of children failing their exams because
they are subjected to loud noise
coming from nearby shebeens.
Parliamentarians also believe that
loss of income is not an important
factor to be considered because
people will ind other ways to make
money.
Swapo MP Chief Samuel Ankama
cautioned that if people were prohibited to sell alcohol they would
make it very diicult to control the
trade. “People will go underground,
they are their own breweries. They
can dig holes and put their liquor
there,” he said.
fought almost every day.
“The late Gomxob did not want
anyone in the prison cell to stay
close to me.
HERMAN RUkERO
The hardship forced me
into having sex with the
deceased in exchange for
toiletries
He would accuse me of having
sexual relationship,” he said.
He further said when he told
Gomxob that he did not want
a sexual relationship anymore
Gomxob threatened him. Rukero
said on 18 January 2012 when he
went to the bathroom Gomxob fol-
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!Nami#nus
lowed him and came up to him but
he pushed him back, refusing to be
touched. He said Gomxob started
hitting him with his ists and one
blow struck him on the forehead
while he blocked the rest.
Gomxob allegedly pulled out a
sharpened wire to stab him but he
held onto his hands. At that time
Afrikaner came into the bathroom started kicking Gomxob and
pulled out his sharpened wire and
started to stab the deceased.
At the start of the internal investigation he handed over the sharpened wires he and Afrikaner had to
the superintendent of prison unit.
He emphasised that he never
threatened anyone on 18 January
2012 that they would follow the
same path as the deceased if they
ever revealed to anyone what happened that day.
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Walvis Bay
Although a 2010 regulation, gazetted by the Ministry of Health
and Social Services, stated that
unclaimed bodies older than 14
days should be buried, Mbandeka explained that the police do
not have a budget for burial or
cremation services.
Yet, the mortuary is the inal
stop for all people who die of unnatural causes in the Khomas Region. Often, bodies from other regions are also sent to the central
police mortuary.
Mbandeka explained that the
City of Windhoek used to pay
for the burial of unclaimed bodies, but that is not the case anymore. He could not say why the
municipality stopped assisting
with burials.
The City of Windhoek had not
responded to questions in time
before going to press.
Mbandeka said that following numerous requests for assistance, police authorities informed the mortuary that an
arrangement was being considered to solve the problem. He
could not elaborate further.
Ludik confirmed this, saying that the government was
aware of the problem and was
considering budgeting for
cremations.
A further issue raised yesterday is that the overcrowded mortuary could pose a health risk. A
doctor who often works there
said the refrigerator has not
been overhauled since before independence, and overcrowding
makes it less efective.
The doctor and several staf
members confirmed that the
worsening smell in the building
is the result of decomposition.
The doctor said the government must urgently provide a
budget to cremate unclaimed
bodies and upgrade the facility.
Ludik said there is no risk of
infection spreading beyond the
cold room, as it was speciically
designed to hold bodies.
But Deputy Commissioner
Mbandeka said the overpowering
smell is indicative that “something is not right”. He said a mortuary is supposed to be “cleaner
than a hospital and it is supposed
to have a natural smell. But that is
currently not the case”.
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Sunrise in Windhoek: 06H33
Sunset in Windhoek: 17H21