From: [email-masked] (Bjoern Skolander)

From The Namibian Thursday January 30 1997

Naruseb comes out on gay issue

STAFF REPORTER

IN AN UNPRECEDENTED move Swapo yesterday threw its weight behind gaybashing
statements by President Sam Nujoma, made at the party's women's congress
recently, and vowed to "uproot" homosexuality from Namibian society.
Secretary for Information and Publicity, Alpheus Naruseb, also lashed out
with gay abandon at "Europeans" whom he alleged were destroying Namibian
culture by imposing "gayism" - a statement most likely to anger the European
Union which is Namibia's major aid donor.

In a statement, Naruseb said Swapo had made sacrifices to liberate Namibia
and therefore would not allow individuals with "alien practices" such as
homosexuality to destroy the social fabric of the country.

"It should be noted that most of the ardent supporters of this (sic)
perverts are Europeans who imagine themselves to be the bulwark of
civilisation and enlightment. They are not only appropriating foreign ideas
in our society but also destroying the local culture by hiding behind the
facade of the very democracy and human right we have created," Naruseb said
in the vicious attack.

It could not be established yesterday whether Naruseb's statement had been
issued after a party caucus meeting or whether he was merely expressing
solidarity with the President on behalf of his office.

President Nujoma jumped on the Mugabe bandwagon and bashed gays at the
second Swapo Women's Congress held at Gobabis on December 6.
The President said they had no place in Namibian society.
Since then the gay community has been demanding a retraction of the
statements.

But Swapo yesterday said it viewed the response of the gay community as
aimed at "belittling the moral standards of the Namibian nation".
Naruseb claimed that as the leader of the ruling party and the nation, the
President had only been expressing the view of the majority of the Namibian
people.

"The moral values of our nation, as defended by the President, incorporate
the fundamental principles of nature and should not be equated to the vile
practices of homosexuals which has a backlash effect on our society."
He added that the ruling party was convinced that homosexuality was not a
"natural and objective form of moral history but a hideous deviation" of
human behaviour.

Describing the President's criticism as a "very wise step in the right
direction", Naruseb said there was no way the ruling party would risk
Namibian people being identified with "immoral foreign values".
"Homosexuality deserves a severe contempt and disdain from the Namibian
people and should be uprooted totally as a practice. Therefore what the
President said is fully endorsed by the Swapo party and by implication an
attack against what the President said is an attack against the Swapo
party," the statement said. - The Namibian

The Namibian
PO Box 20783
Windhoek
Namibia
Tel: 264 61 236970
Fax: 264 61 233980