Tujoromajo Kasuto
A CHINESE employer identified as Li Bailong, who stripped 24-year- old Ruth George naked in full view of the public last Sunday, has today been granted bail of N$1000 by Magistrate Johannes Shuuveni.
Bailong briefly appeared in the Katutura Magistrate Court. He was granted bail on condition that he hands over his passport and does not leave the country.
The case has been postponed to the February next year for further investigations. He was arrested yesterday afternoon and detained at the Wanaheda Police station, facing charges of defamation of character and assault by threat. He is accused of forcing George to remove her uniform in the store after she cut out a material that a customer failed to pay for. Thereafter ordering her to exit the property. It is alleged that he offered George a box to cover herself with until a security official advised the Chinese employer against the decision. She was later offered a satin material to cover herself with.
Yesterday Swapo Party Women’s Council (SPWC) and Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) had demanded damages and the deportation of Bailong. SPWC Secretary General, Eunice Ipinge, pointed out that the public act of humiliation of Namibian women is a display and demonstration of the lack of respect for women and has provoked them, thus should be dealt with appropriately, as they noted amongst other things the rate of injustices faced by Namibian women.
They called upon the Government to take action accordingly and further called upon the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, to report the accused Chinese national to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU), for him to be declared ‘Persona non grant” in SADC countries and AU member states.
The women’s council said it will take unspecified action, should Government not act with immediate effect. They expressed the stripping of women is a taboo in African culture and will not be tolerated at any cost.
Meanwhile, the Affirmative Repositioning (AR) movement closed down the store in the Northern Industrial area yesterday as they stood in solidarity with George.
