Ruling in The Patriot, NCIS case reserved for May

WINDHOEK, 20 APR – Judgement in a case where the Namibia Central Intelligence Service (NCIS) is seeking an interdict to stop The Patriot from publishing an article pertaining to properties owned by the service, alleged corruption and malpractise, has been reserved for 31 May 2018.
Judge Harold Geier presided over the case in the Windhoek High Court on Friday, but could not hand down judgement, saying he needed more time to peruse all documentation presented to him.
Arguing on behalf of the NCIS, lawyer Dennis Khama said the information that The Patriot newspaper intends to publish would compromise national security and expose how they operate.
“Enemies are not supposed to know your strengths or weaknesses. That is a threat to national security,” said Khama.
He suggested that the NCIS is the only institution that can determine what is and what is not a threat to national security.
“Whether somebody agrees or disagrees with the law, it has to be enforced. In the absence of national security, where are you going to enjoy that right [freedom of expression]?” he asked.
In his argument, Khama asserted that the NCIS “cannot be corrupt”.
This was in response to Geier’s question on what NCIS’s position is should The Patriot’s allegations of corruption and malpractice hold any truth.
“Can a statute be relied upon if it protects corruption?” he asked the intelligence service’s legal team.
Geier questioned whether or not the Namibia Central Intelligence Service Act No. 10 of 1997 – which prohibits any possession, disclosure, and or publication of information pertaining to the NCIS – could be relied upon if such laws were being used to cover corruption.
To this, Khama said it could be that the person who leaked information to Mathias Haufiku, The Patriot’s editor, is corrupt and did so deliberately in a bid to test the NCIS.
On the contrary, The Patriot’s legal representative, Norman Tjombe, said information contained in the article in question would in no way compromise national security and that it was in the public’s interest to know how their resources were being used.
Tjombe said the questions by Haufiku to the NCIS were very specific.
In his queries to the NCIS’s director, Haufiku wanted to know who funds the Association of Former Members of the Namibia Central Intelligence and why government money was being used to fund private activities.
He also asked whether it was in the public’s interest and if it was urgent to spend millions in State funds during Namibia’s most economically challenging period on retired spies.
“What is sensitive about this? Why would it pose a security risk? It was not intelligent for the intelligence to have brought this before the court,” Tjombe argued.
NAMPA