The pitiable delivery of services at Home Affairs has once again caused an international embarrassment for Namibia after a high-ranking official in the Prosecutor-General’s office, Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef, was arrested and detained, first in Russia and then in France, while on official business. Verhoef was arrested for possessing a Namibian passport, which when scanned under an airport UV light, portrayed the face and identity of another person.
Verhoef, who is believed to be back in the country, reportedly travelled with a Namibian delegation to Russia and France last week, but instead of attending to her duties she was detained, because her passport wrongly showed the identity of a black African female, immediately raising suspicions among customs officials, as Verhoef is clearly of European descent.
Verhoef’s passport was first scrutinised under a special light at an airport in Moscow and found to have irregularities and this, according to well-placed sources lead to Verhoef’s detention and the consequent high-level embarrassment. After her ordeal in Russia the Deputy Prosecutor General was later again detained in Paris for travelling on the same dodgy passport. It remains unclearly how long Verhoef was detained for in both countries.
The Prosecutor General’s office claims to have no knowledge of Verhoef’s detention, first stating that the Deputy Prosecutor General is on leave before retracting and saying that Verhoef is still in Europe. Prosecutor-General Martha Imalwa also proclaimed her ignorance regarding the detention of Verhoef and would not confirm whether Verhoef is in Europe or back in Namibia. “That is strange, that a Namibian passport reflects the facial identity of someone else and not the holder,” said Home Affairs spokesperson Salome Kambala. She said the Ministry was not informed of the Deputy Prosecutor General’s detention in Europe and denied that any similar case has ever been reported to the Ministry.
Characterised by long queues, as well as slow and poor service delivery, the Ministry of Home Affairs has over the years become a focal point for public criticism. According to a report compiled by the Anti-Corruption Commission and published in April 2012, the Ministry of Home Affairs is widely perceived to be the second most corrupt governmental institution, fast on the heels of the Ministry of Finance which topped the list of institutions perceived by the public to be highly corrupt.