Justicia Shipena
Former environment and tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta is demanding a police investigation into how details of a rape allegation against him were leaked to the media before he was contacted by investigators.
Shifeta’s lawyer, Sisa Namandje, said in a letter to inspector general Joseph Shikongo that the leak violated his client’s rights.
He said it exposed Shifeta to public scrutiny over what he described as a false and malicious allegation.
“Our client was published on what is clearly a false allegation of rape without being accorded an opportunity to explain,” Namandje wrote.
He further called on the police to investigate the complainant in the rape case for allegedly abusing police resources by opening a false criminal case as an act of revenge.
The letter states that the complaint was filed for the rape complaint on 15 July 2025, months after the alleged incident and just days after Shifeta was granted an interim protection order against her.
Shifeta had approached the Domestic Violence Court on 8 July, citing ongoing harassment by Mengela, who is the mother of his daughter.
According to the letter, Shifeta’s wife, Sylvia Shekutumbwile Shifeta, also reported threats from the complainant at her workplace on June 19, 2025.
On 14 June, the complaint and another woman allegedly appeared uninvited at the couple’s home, which they say was another act of harassment.
The letter indicated that the Domestic Violence Court received and recorded the incidents..
Following these events, Shifeta’s wife, through her legal team at Viljoen, Viljoen & Vennote, issued a warning letter to the complainant on 21 June, instructing her to stop the harassment.
Namandje argues that the rape charge, filed after these developments, is “motivated by spite and vengeance” and that the police would have seen the lack of merit had they contacted Shifeta.
