FORMER MR GAY NAMIBIA IN TROUBLE AGAIN

Controversial former Mr Gay Namibia Wendelinus Hamutenya has narrowly avoided being arrested in connection with a malicious damage to property charge.

The New Era reported that Hamutenya failed to appear in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court to face charges that he damaged a digital recorder belonging to Melt van Schoor, a former colleague at Old Mutual Namibia.

Hamutenya has claimed that the recorder was damaged when Van Schoor attempted to hit him with the device after the former title holder charged him with sexual harassment.

Hamutenya has alleged that Van Schoor, a former Namibian cricketer and rugby player, had made “unwanted” sexual advances towards him and touched him inappropriately.

Hamutenya escaped having a warrant of arrest issued against him as he was out of the country attending “a male beauty pageant”. He has been ordered to appear in court next month.

The then 24-year-old was crowned the first-ever Mr. Gay Namibia in November 2011. Two weeks later, he was reportedly beaten in an attack near his home by two men who demanded his prize money.

Hamutenya went on to compete in the Mr Gay World competition in Johannesburg in April 2012, but in November of that year, just days before the end of his reign, he was stripped of his title, allegedly over “unbecoming conduct”.

While Mr Gay Namibia organisers declined to specify what exactly led to Hamutenya being ousted, The Namibian reported at the time that it could be related to “a domestic violence case pending against him in Johannesburg, South Africa”.

Hamutenya admitted that he had been involved in a domestic violence case but said that it had been withdrawn.

This year, he was again embroiled in controversy when it was reported that he feared for his life for allegedly authoring a list ‘outing’ prominent gay Namibians.

Hamutenya, in an opinion piece in The Villager newspaper entitled To be or not to be gay, said he wanted to encourage public debate on the issue by ‘naming and shaming’ high-ranking officials he said were gay. The newspaper, however, refused to publish the list.

Out-Right Namibia condemned Hamutenya’s actions, saying that individuals who chose not to declare their sexual orientation for fear of discrimination should not be outed.