Obrein Simasiku
The vibrant activist, politician and beleaguered forex trader, Michael Amushelelo has thrown in the proverbial towel, saying it is time to rebuild his life because it is pointless to fight for mentally enslaved people unwilling to be helped.
“As a normal thinking human being, I have come to the realization that it is pointless and hopeless fighting for people who are not willing to fight for themselves. I have done my level best to make people see that the system needs to change, but I guess people are comfortable being exploited, the youth are happy being unemployed. Unfortunately, I will no longer be fighting for other people. I will be focusing solely on my businesses and rebuilding the wealth I lost in an attempt to fight for people who are happy with the way things are,” said the outspoken Amushelelo.
Amushelelo’s abrupt decision caught many off-guard, leaving many of his followers with mixed feelings, with some saying it is for the best, while others are appealing to him not to abandon their youth emancipation agenda.
In a candid interview with the Observer, Amushelelo who on Tuesday led a protest with a handful of people handing over a petition to various government agencies and law chambers, in which they call for the nationalisation of the country’s resources said: “Basically Namibians are still mentally enslaved and colonised, having fought for their emancipation and make them realise the dangerous situation in which we find ourselves as the country is being sold out by the elite. Having tried to no avail, I realised that I have lost so much on a personal level in fighting for the people who don’t understand the importance of fighting for themselves and wellbeing.”
“The mental slavery our people are suffering from, not I or yourself can emancipate them, so if the people don’t want to do so and eventually start realising that what is happening in Namibia is neo-colonialism and done in a smarter way through sophisticated things of labour, repo rate and so forth, which they don’t understand. So it is pointless to fight for someone who is in an abusive relationship, because when you stand up they later end up ganging and blaming you for their problems,” he stressed.
The Namibia Economic Freedom Fighter (NEFF) members, says the protest against Namra resulted in him to endure a three-month jail term was a selfless exercise meant to assist the affected and victimised members of the society, but unfortunately all his efforts were just brewing more problems for him. NamRa had burnt alleged counterfeit goods worth N$5 million, which sparked a mass protest, led by Amushelelo who demanded Chinese businesses be shutdown because they are known for selling fake product. Former Police Chief Sebastian Ndeitunga ordered his arrest on inciting public violence, assault through threat as well as organising an illegal protest.
He was arrested along with Affirmative Repositioning Movement co-founder Dimbulukeni Nauyoma, who also spend three months in custody.
This was preceded by a series of encounters with the law, where Amushelelo had stormed into various business in the name of saving employees from injustices and exploitation at the hands of the employers.
“I don’t sell any of those goods, but I was doing it for the people, to help them. In the end who suffered, it’s me, but they can see that. I have risked my life enough and it is time for me to focus on myself and going forward,” he said.
Counting loses
The High Court recently ordered that a luxury Mercedes Benz owned by Amushelelo whose payments were in arrears be auctioned and that he pay N$220 000 to Bank Windhoek for the arrears. This poured more trouble, as the 31-year-old still has an avalanche of criminal case pending where he is facing over 360 charges together with his business partner Gregory Cloete for contravening the Banking Act related to the Ponzi Scheme they allegedly operated.
Other charges are fraud, alternatively theft by pretence, conducting banking business without authorisation and conducting a Ponzi scheme, tax evasion, tax fraud, failure to pay tax, money laundering and racketeering, amounting to over N$17 million. Legal entities Amushe Hello Investment, Amushe Advertising & Design, Amushe International Holding, Van der Walt Trailer Manufacturing, Amushelelo Family Trust T187/2019 and Global Growth Investment Namibia are also charged in the matter.
In 2019 his bank accounts and other assets were frozen by the state, crippling him financially as more trouble continued to haunt him running parallel with high legal costs
Family
“This is now time for my family, my wife and parents have endured the most and has greatly taken a toll on them, of which when I look at my efforts and what I get in return from people I am fighting for, it is no longer worth the pain I put my loved once through,” said Amushelelo.
He reminisces of his fortunes and lavish life he had as a young businessman before activism got ahead of him, which he says, will be his focus now to build and recoup what he lost.
“You can recall what happened in 2019 when the elites crafted bogus charges against me, leading to the state to take everything I worked hard for, so that is my focus to start over and build,” he reiterates.
Youth Activism
Amushelelo says with all lessons learnt in his short-lived four-year span of what he says is confrontational activism. He is now shifting to youth educational activism under the stewardship of the Black People Economic Emancipation Association. “I have tried with adults to help with but their mental slavery is still stuck to the core, and nothing I can do anymore. You can make a big tree bent, else it will break. However, I will not relent, I will just shift my focus to young children because I know they can be moulded, hence I want to educate and emancipate them while still early.”
Two fronts
When asked what was the way forward and how he will juggle politics [NEFF] considering his unprecedented retirement from active youth activism, he responded: “The fight is on two fronts political and economical. The political orientation will be on advocating and changing laws that are advancing neo-colonialism and the selling our country, because it is through these laws that suffering is being bred. On the Economic part, it is where I will continue pushing so that I encourage development such as building factories, industries, creating employment and generational wealth.”
“Generational wealth is very important and this is what black society needs, because when a black person dies the only thing the children and family receives is socks, underwear, trousers and blankets, but nothing to build to empower and build them. While whites on the other hand, keep the wealth through empowering and teaching their kids how they can takeover. So, us without land, how can we be empowered, because you need land for you to start accumulating wealth. Even pastors who are preaching heaven are doing so on land, for they know that without land there is no heaven,” he concluded.
