Werner Menges
20 November 2008
THE prosecution of an Angolan-born musician who has been facing a cocaine-dealing charge in Namibia for more than four and a half years ended in an acquittal in the Windhoek Regional Court this week.
Musician Koxi Mayanga, who was born in Angola but has lived in Namibia since 2000, had a charge of dealing in cocaine, alternatively possession of the drug, pending against him since April 7 2004.
Following his arrest, the then 29-year-old Mayanga spent just over a year in Police custody before he was released on bail of N$7 000.
On Tuesday, he was found not guilty.
After numerous postponements, Mayanga's trial finally started before Magistrate Dinnah Usiku in the Windhoek Regional Court on Tuesday.
Mayanga pleaded not guilty to a charge that he had dealt in some 168 grams of cocaine, then valued at N$67 200, or had possessed the drug in Klein Windhoek on April 7 2004.
Only one witness testified for the prosecution during the trial.
The absence of another potential witness, who is no longer in Namibia, turned out to be fatal to the State's case.
Detective Chief Inspector Barry de Klerk, who is the head of the Namibian Police's Drug Law Enforcement Unit, testified that after receiving information that Mayanga was offering cocaine for sale, he set up a police operation with the aim of catching Mayanga in the act.
De Klerk said he got a South African police officer who was attached to the South African High Commission in Namibia at that time to pose as a buyer interested in doing a cocaine deal with Mayanga.
The deal was set up at the parking area of a coffee shop in Klein Windhoek, where the supposed buyer had a meeting with Mayanga in his car, the court was told.
When the South African gave De Klerk a pre-arranged signal, De Klerk moved in to make an arrest.
De Klerk testified that he found Mayanga and another person in the car with the supposed buyer.
Mayanga had a hat in his hands which he tried to hide under one of the seats of the car, De Klerk said.
Inside the hat, De Klerk said, were a number of objects wrapped in plastic.
These turned out to contain cocaine, the court was told.
The South African who posed as a buyer is no longer in Namibia, though, with the result that he was not called to testify.
Testifying in his own defence, Mayanga told the Magistrate that he had accompanied someone named Domingos to the place where he ended up being arrested, to act as an interpreter for this person.
Mayanga denied that he was involved in any drug deal.
He claimed that the hat found in the car belonged to Domingos.
In her judgement, Magistrate Usiku noted that De Klerk was a single witness on the alleged deal.
Without corroboration of his evidence, and with Mayanga in turn denying the police officer's testimony, Mayanga in her opinion had to be given the benefit of the doubt in these circumstances, the Magistrate indicated.
Mayanga was represented by Legal Aid Directorate lawyer Hipura Ujahaa.
Public Prosecutor Karin Esterhuizen represented the State.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Namibian. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
