Staff Reporter
PROFESSOR Joseph Diescho, Namibian academic and political analyst, is suing a woman who accused him of sexual harassment, as well as The Namibian newspaper for publishing the accusations, demanding a total of N$600,000.
In the court documents, Ileni Gebhardt, Diescho’s legal representative, said that on or about 6 August 2025, the First Defendant, one Uschi Ramakhutla, published defamatory words on her Facebook page in which she said: “He is 67/8 years of age. Highly acclaimed analyst, academically accomplished, internationally recognised, and yet emotionally immature and extremely egocentric. Why do I feel unsafe? I was ambushed two weeks ago at the Craft Centre to meet him in person. I agreed to meet him later in the week for a drink, just to create distance and get him to leave. Later in the week I told him in no uncertain terms, as I had been doing since 2021, that I have absolutely no interest in meeting nor talking to him. And yet, he thought it wise to ambush me into meeting him. Yesterday, my Sales Lady at the Craft Centre told me he had turned up there on Monday, asking for me, walking about looking for me, after she told him that I’m not there. What do I do? My instincts tell me to ask a male friend to go meet with him and tell him (the stalker) to back off or face legal reprimand….”
Diescho’s legal representatives said the Facebook posts were published wrongfully and unlawfully, with the sole intention to tarnish the Plaintiff’s good name and reputation, infringe his human dignity, and thereby lower his esteem in the eyes of right-thinking members of the community in Namibia and abroad. They are demanding N$200,000 from the woman who wrote the accusations.
In the second claim, Diescho demands a further N$200,000 from The Namibian’s journalism team after it published an article on 2 September 2025 titled “Diescho accused of harassing.”
Gebhardt said that the article conveyed that Diescho made unwanted and unwelcome romantic and/or sexual advances to the First Defendant, Ramakhutla, despite being informed by her that his advances were unwanted and unwelcome.
In the third claim, Gebhardt said that the Fourth Defendant, cartoonist Dudley, published a cartoon in The Namibian titled “JOE DIESCHO CAN’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER.”
The cartoon depicts an image of the Plaintiff with his mouth open, tongue hanging out, while chasing a woman who is saying, “NO MEANS NO”, as she runs away from him.
The professor is demanding a further N$200,000 due to the alleged defamatory nature of the cartoon and has asked that the newspaper retract its remarks and publish an apology on its front page.
