Courts must assist economy - Shivute

Werner Menges

NAMIBIA’S judiciary needs to embrace reform to meet the demands of economic growth and development, Chief Justice Peter Shivute told his judicial colleagues and legal practitioners in Windhoek on Tuesday.

A clear link exists between court institutions which are working efficiently and economic development, and between the performance of a country’s courts and its ability to attract foreign investment, Chief Justice Shivute said during the opening of a workshop on the case management system which has been introduced in Namibia’s High Court.

In light of this link, a country that does not reform its judiciary to stimulate economic growth is unlikely to attract sufficient foreign investment, he said.

“We should not lose sight of the fact that the judiciary is a key driver to the country’s economic development,” the Chief Justice said. “In the context of economic development, the primary role of the judiciary is to determine, enforce and protect constitutional as well as contractual rights and obligations of parties.”

The civil case management system was introduced in the High Court in May 2011 with the aim of speeding up the finalisation of cases, working down the backlog of cases in the court, and getting ever-increasing costs associated with litigation under control.

The results so far achieved with the case management system are reported to have been by and large positive, for instance with tactical delays of cases reduced as judges seek to get matters heard and decided, and settlements having increased as litigants and their lawyers have to prepare for trials earlier than previously and have to try to limit issues and areas of dispute, Chief Justice Shivute said.

Although the results achieved so far are encouraging, some areas of concern remain, he said. One concern is that it is not clear if the objective of reducing legal costs has been achieved, he said.

“I am convinced, however, that this change is absolutely necessary and the path we have taken is the right one,” Chief Justice Shivute said. “It is good for our judiciary and it is good for our economy.”

Speaking at the same event, the Minister of Justice, Utoni Nujoma, warned that the government’s goals of putting in place a legal system which compares well with the best in the world, and giving people access to justice, will remain empty and meaningless if people cannot afford legal representation because the payment of lawyers’ fees remains beyond the financial means of most people in Namibia.

Increased use of mediation, rather than litigation, as a way of resolving and settling disputes, could help to limit legal costs, Nujoma said.

He added that in his view time has come for the Ministry of Justice to seriously consider introducing small claims courts in Namibia, to deal with some claims which are currently being pursued through the existing courts.

Plans to bring the High Court further into the cyber age are expected to be implemented early next year, the court’s registrar, Elsie Schickerling, also announced.

She said it is planned to make a switch to an electronic system of filing court documents in civil cases and managing court files, in the place of the current paper-based system.

The system, dubbed ‘e-Justice’, would enable legal practitioners to file new civil cases and file documents in pending cases through the Internet, without needing to physically visit the registry of the court to file documents any more, Schickerling explained.

Lawyers would also be able to access the court files of cases they are working on through the Internet, without having to visit the court to check files like they have to do now, she said.

Judges and lawyers are scheduled to continue to discuss the case management system at the workshop until tomorrow.

A federal judge from the United States, Arizona Judge David Campbell, and a Namibian lawyer who is now practising law in Australia, Rudi Cohrssen, are facilitating the discussions.