In Namibia, a human rights group is condemning a recent newspaper ad that celebrates the death of famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal. The ad appeared in the bilingual German-English weekly Namibia Plus, and called Mr. Wiesenthal a “big monster.”
Phil ya Nangoloh is head of the Namibian National Society for Human Rights. From Windhoek, he spoke to English to Africa reporter Joe De Capua about the incident. He says, “An ad, which we call a hate propaganda advertisement, was published in a local, weekly newspaper, apparently by Nazi people, who are either based here or somewhere in Europe. And this is an offense in terms of our human rights law.”
Mr. ya Nangoloh explains the law, saying, “We have what we call the Racial Discrimination Act, which outlaws hate propaganda, incitement to violence. And this certainly falls under that prohibition. And on top of that, Article 23 of the Namibian Constitution outlaws the ideology of apartheid and also the ideology of racism. That also definitely can be used against those who have placed this advertisement in this local newspaper.”
He says racism had been a part of Namibia for many years, adding there are still remnants of hate groups, both black and white.
