In late
March, Sam Nujoma, President of Namibia, ordered apurge of homosexuals, stating
that “The Republic of Namibia does not allow homosexuality or lesbianism here.
Police are ordered to arrest you, deport you and imprison you.” The Namibian
Society for Human Rights countered that the “attempt to turn a personal dislike
into ad hoc national policy is entirely unconstitutional and misguided.”
The Black
Radical Congress joins those who have strongly condemned the Namibian
president’s assault on same gender loving people in his Southern African
nation. Namibia, a former German colony that was administered as a mandate and
later annexed by South Africa, gained its independence in 1990 after a more
than 20-year long anti-apartheid war. Given that he is a former freedom fighter
and a head of state, Nujoma’s homophobic, discriminatory actions are
particularly repugnant. His actions and rhetoric come on the heels of similar
rhetoric and repression in Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe has
campaigned to imprison and expel same gender loving people.
