‘Kaapanda threatened us’Mother of missing herder says gag order was issued The mother of Fillipus Jurius, the cattle herder who went missing on former minister Joel Kaapanda’s land in 2015, says the minister has told the family to keep quiet. Former information minister Joel Kaapanda is accused of threatening the mother of missing herder Fillipus Jurius to stop communicating with the media regarding her missing son. Jurius disappeared from Kapaanda’s cattle post on 31 July last year.Jurius’s mother, 45-year-old Elizabeth Akooko, told Namibian Sun that after media reports regarding her missing son last year, Kaapanda called her, ordering her to stop mentioning his name to the media.
A meeting was held at Outapi police station last week where Akooko and her family were allegedly informed of Kaapanda’s order to keep quiet. Namibian Sun was at the meeting but was not allowed in. When contacted for comment, Kaapanda denied the allegation.
“He started calling me last year, saying that I was tarnishing his reputation and dirtying his name through media reports over my missing son. Last week Wednesday, after Namibian Sun published another report on 3 October, he went through the police to invite us to Outapi to go hear his threats and orders. During the meeting the police also supported him,” Akooko said.
Akooko also accused the police of dragging their feet on the matter. She said they called her and her family to Outapi under false pretences. She said they told her that they were going to hear the DNA results, but when they arrived, she said it was “just to hear Kaapanda threatening us to stop taking his name to media because it is dirtying his name”.
“He is more worried about his name and reputation, but I am worried about my son who went missing. We were quiet about it, but now he has provoked us. We have given him until end of December to tell us what happened,” she said.
When contacted, Kaapanda denied the allegations, but maintained that it was not fair for them to run to the media while the police were still investigating the matter.
“I am not the one who called the meeting and I did not call them, ordering not to talk to media. I know several reports were made about this, which is not serving any good at all or supporting the police investigation. I never threatened them,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Bonifatias Kanyetu of the Omusati police confirmed that he had called the two families (Akooko and Kaapanda) to his office. He also confirmed that the family was advised to stop talking to the media, but he denied that that was the sole purpose of the meeting.
“We called the two families to inform them of the progress of the investigation. We also wanted to hear from them as to what they feel needs to be done while we are waiting for the DNA report which is not yet completed,” Kanyetu said.
Meanwhile, Akooko said, “The invitation we received was that we were going to get the DNA report, but to our surprise we were invited to go hear Kaapanda’s threats. We are not the ones that take this to the media, they are the ones who call us for updates.”
Akooko said she was very frustrated and could not wait any longer. She said it had been a long time since the police took her blood sample but they had not told her anything.
She said the disappearance of her son and the way she learned about it were very traumatising.
On the afternoon of 31 July 2015, Jurius was dropped off at Kaapanda’s cattle post in the Onamatanga grazing area of the Omusati Region by Pinias Nashilongo, a relative of Kaapanda’s.
He was never seen again.
Nashilongo reported Jurius missing at the Okahao police on 4 August and that same day Akooko heard Kaapanda announcing over NBC Oshiwambo community announcement programme that Jurius was missing.
According to the police, on 4 August when Nashilongo reported the matter, decomposed human remains were discovered in the area.
Akooko said: “This is not true. After hearing the announcement, I took the number that was given in the notice and when I called, I was told that it was former minister Joel Kaapanda who sent the announcement and the missing person was really my son. I requested to go with my family to his cattle post, but he refused and ordered me not to call him anymore. He gave me someone’s number that I must call whenever I need him. When I called that number on 25 August 2015 I was told that Kaapanda went abroad. On 15 October Kaapanda called me that he is back and my family and I could go to his post, but my family refused. On 20 October we were called to go to Okahao police to see the discovered body parts, which according to the police were discovered on 17 October 2015.”
ILENI NANDJATO