PRESIDENT Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s mooted restructuring of the country’s security cluster could strengthen presidential protection and put an end to 20 years of rogue uniformed officials peddling information to gain favour with politicians.
The presence of navy captain Rachel Tuyoleni, behind Nandi-Ndaitwah, is perhaps evidence that the new president intends to switch her protection detail to the military after a 20-year period where the responsibility rested with the Namibian Police. Her rank is just below that of brigadier general in conventional army terminology, and Tuyoleni’s placement by the president’s side signifies this transition and how seriously the new administration takes security matters.
That Nandi-Ndaitwah means business is evident by the reappointment of securocrat Frans Kapofi as defence minister.
The Issue understands that Nandi-Ndaitwah’s plans require improvisation due to the unexpected contract extensions of both chief of defence forces Martin Pinehas and police chief Joseph Shikongo. The two are past retirement age and were expected to step down after Nandi-Ndaitwah’s inauguration. However, former president Nangolo Mbumba extended their contracts by a few years, but adjustments are still expected to the hierarchies of the police, military and the Namibia Central Intelligence Services (NCIS).
The move is also aimed at giving the incoming president a sense of security and to allay fears that her life was in danger.
This was after police investigated a number of ‘assassination’ claims in the last two years. Rumours about moves being made on Nandi-Ndaitwah’s life were rife.
Police chief Shikongo told The Issue last year that there were no threats against Nandi-Ndaitwah’s life detected. At the time, he was responding to an incident where her official vehicle started smoking as she was leaving the Heroes Acre after president Hage Geingob’s burial.
Shikongo had at the time called on the public to refrain from spreading rumours and creating unnecessary fears and chaos.
Shikongo’s call, police sources say, was caused by the fact that police followed multiple leads and investigated various tips claiming that Nandi-Ndaitwah’s life was being threatened. All these leads uncovered nothing significant.
MILITARY MARCH IN
At independence, the responsibility to protect the president was with the military. This responsibility was shifted to the police when president Hifikepunye Pohamba moved into State House in March 2005.
Speculative information has reached The Issue that part of the reason to bring back military protection to the Presidency is because the first gentleman, Epaphras ‘Denga’ Ndaitwah, is a retired lieutenant general who served as the chief of the defence force. Some believe that it is not prudent for a former head of the military to be protected by the police.
The other reason being advanced for the switch is the belief that the military is more disciplined than the police. A case in point is last year’s theft of late president Hage Geingob’s watch by a police officer who was serving in the security detail of then first lady Monica Geingos. The stolen watch was worth N$800 000, according to media reports.
Retired securocrats told The Issue that one of Pohamba’s first moves as president was to switch his protection detail from the army to the police. He also wanted a smaller protection unit as opposed to his predecessor, Sam Nujoma.
The key reason allegedly given for the switch to police was the fact that constitutionally the police are tasked with the responsibility to safeguard the country’s internal security. However, those in the know said that it was due to fears that his life could be in danger.
Rumours also spread that it was allegedly Nujoma, who fought tooth and nail to have Pohamba elected as his successor, who was behind the alleged plot.
Fast forward to 2025, and it now appears it was all cloak-and-dagger games by elements in the country’s security apparatus seeking to make themselves relevant to Pohamba.
The Issue has learned that shortly after winning the 2004 Presidential Election, before being sworn in as head of State, Pohamba was invited to a meeting at a homestead near Omuthiya.
The meeting allegedly only had five attendees. Two senior police officers, a senior military official, one senior manager from the NCIS and Pohamba.
Retired securocrats who spoke to The Issue, believe that the said meeting informed Pohamba that his life was in danger and he was advised on how to restructure the security cluster.
The restructuring saw then police chief Lucas Hangula become the director general of intelligence, Peter Tshirumbu Tsheehama moved from director general of intelligence to the newly established ministry of safety and security, while former police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga who was police deputy inspector general responsible for administration at the time was elevated to the all powerful police inspector general post.
Then defence minister Erkki Nghimtina was moved to mines and energy and was replaced by major general Charles Namoloh, who was serving as Namibia’s high commissioner to India at the time.
FEAR MONGERING
Observers in the security cluster are hoping Nandi-Ndaitwah’s administration will put an end to 20 years of uniformed officials using fear by fashioning conspiracies out of thin air to ingratiate themselves with politicians. Both former presidents Pohamba and Geingob have fallen victim to recurring claims of plots to kill them.
The Geingob era saw two major cases.
The latest was when then acting chief of defence forces Martin Pinehas, shortly after the 2019 National Assembly and Presidential Elections, unilaterally decided to elevate the country’s security alertness to its highest level and deployed soldiers into civilian spaces. He claimed the military detected threats of unspecified action on social media. He had insisted that some elements wanted to remove Geingob, a democratically elected president, by way of protests. Media reports at the time stated that Pinehas broke protocol and had no power to involve the army in internal security affairs. The Issue understands that Pinehas’ colleagues accused him of manipulating intelligence reports to justify his actions. The story goes that tourists, with reported ties or involvement with mercenary groups, were cited near a military base in the country. The Issue further understands Pinehas’ own military intelligence concluded that the tourists left the country and did not appear to have sinister motives. Pinehas was accused of taking drastic actions to impress Geingob to secure a permanent appointment.
It worked.
ASSASSINATION PLOTS
In 2014, Geingob allies, including Fishrot-accused former Justice Minister Sacky Shanghala, said that there was a plot to assassinate Geingob. “Recently, however, these public myths of people seeking poisoning, shooting or a motor vehicle accident as a means of elimination of Dr Geingob have resurfaced in a more concrete (relative to then) and desperate crescendo. This information is made available to the relevant functionaries, and hopefully, this time, we do not gamble with life and peace for all but stay on the side of caution,” Shanghala was quoted by The Namibian at the time.
Geingob himself was more diplomatic in responding to talks of a plot to kill him. He was quoted in The Namibian saying, “Regarding the plot, yes, I am aware of this and even of the newspaper witch-hunting on me. I am hearing some people are not happy with my election and are going around, stating that I [should] not be allowed to become the (next) president of this country. That’s their own view.”
This was the second time information of an attempt on the life of an incoming president was made public, after Pohamba also experienced the same in 2005 on the eve of his inauguration as president.
In Geingob’s case, law enforcement took the alleged threats a bit more seriously, and police launched a high-level investigation.
The Issue has learnt that the investigations found there was no real threat to Geingob’s life uncovered. It allegedly also uncovered that the claims were made by senior uniformed officials in the army and police. The Issue has also learnt former Oshana Police commander Ndahangwapo Kashihakumwa became the fall guy.
The theory goes that the information of the alleged assassination plot was given to Kashihakumwa, who in turn whispered the information to Swapo’s Oshikoto coordinator, Armas Amukwiyu.
The youthful politician was a close Geingob lieutenant and was part of his inner circle, once referred to as the ‘A-Team’. Amukwiyu then informed Geingob about the alleged plot.
When he was interviewed, he allegedly told investigators that Kashihakumwa came to him with claims about the plot to assassinate Geingob.
However, Amukwiyu flatly denied these claims when he spoke to The Issue last month. “Those rumours (of Geingob’s alleged assassination plot) were there, of course, but I was not interviewed,” Amukwiyu said.
Kashihakumwa allegedly refused to provide details about how he came to the information. He was allegedly also questioned about why he failed to use existing security and law enforcement channels. Protocols in the security sector allegedly dictate that he should have formally reported the alleged plot to his superiors or colleagues in law enforcement.
In August 2015, with about three years left before his retirement age, Kashihakumwa took early retirement and stepped down as a decorated crime-busting senior police officer. New Era quoted the revered officer, who was 57 at the time, saying he was retiring to focus on his family.
New information now points to Kashihakumwa jumping before his boss, then police chief Ndeitunga, could fire him. Ndeitunga is believed to have gone hard on Kashihakumwa, who at the time was talked about as a possible successor.
“I don’t want to comment or hear anything to do with or related to police or security, Ask those at the police or other security agencies,” said Ndeitunga in a telephonic interview with The Issue last month. He added that he is now a private individual who no longer deals with security related matters.
Two years later, in August 2017, Nampa reported that Kashihakumwa was appointed as the head of the just-established anti-poaching unit under the ministry of environment and tourism. Although this position comes as a lower rank to the commissioner post he held just two years prior. Kashihakumwa could not be reached for comment and did not respond to text messages sent last month.
