IT HAS BEEN a long road, from the time the Law Reform and Development Commission (referred to as the ‘LRDC’) was adopted and its office opened in July 1992 to the present day.
I was 16 years old and living in Katutura when the commission was born. But even at that young age, I was very much alive to the widespread and deep-rooted hatred for black people that was sown by the then apartheid regime and that plagued Namibia as a nation.
The symbolic ‘red line’, which is still mirrored by the very architecture of urban areas such as Windhoek, ensured that black Namibians were kept in an inferior position politically, economically, educationally, culturally, and sociologically.
The real difficulty for the leaders of the newly independent Namibia was not the red line but how to get to a prosperous and diverse yet united nation we dreamed of. No, the real difficulty was the ‘how’: How do we get to that ideal place?
One way to that end was to establish an office that could do away with the policies, the red lines, and other legacies of the apartheid government. And, just like the apartheid government used the law to define and divide us, so the law was to be used to undo the definitions and divisions of the past.
It required the construction of an equal and fair society that called for laws that needed to be responsive to the needs of particularly historically disadvantaged Namibians. This is how the Law Reform and Development Commission came about.
The establishment of the LRDC was an acknowledgement that any meaningful change and fulfilment of our constitutional values and aspirations will have to be addressed through an institutional mechanism for changing the laws that caused the kind of divisions and inequalities that engulfed our nation for many years before 21 March in 1990.
Sadly, the effects and traumas of our ugly past still haunt us 27 years into independence, as we continue to suffer high unemployment rates, high levels of poverty, skewed ownership of productive assets, increasing levels of gender-based violence, all affecting mostly previously disadvantaged Namibians.
That said, since the LRDC has the mission to ‘reform’ and ‘develop’ laws, can it actually make laws? It is true that the commission is not a lawmaker. The power to make laws belongs to the National Assembly.
Moreover, we are not the only institution reforming laws in this country. Aside from the parliament, changes to the law come through our courts, various institutions and industries, government ministries or agencies; changes also come through you, members of the general public.
In a quarter century, under the able stewardships of six chairpersons, the LRDC produced over 30 reports that had various laws contained in them. It has set itself apart as an institution known for and praised for its continued public consultation process.
The LRDC has spoken to Namibians and walked across 14 regions assembled within 121 districts. It has consulted and continues to consult Namibians on a wide range of issues, including harmful customary practices, violence against women and children, small claims courts, the transformation of GIPF and NUST, administrative justice, consumer protection, and economic empowerment.
Mathematically, it may seem as though the LRDC should have done more over the past 25 years. But law reform is a slow process. It requires a systematic work methodology that involves research, consultations with key stakeholders (for example, civil society and academia), comparisons with other countries, and the writing of reports motivating the changes we propose and the accompanying draft laws.
And although a report does not immediately guarantee a law, our work has led to the adoption of major pieces of legislation, such as the Married Persons Equality Act of 1996, Combating of Rape Act of 2000, the Combating of Domestic Violence Act of 2003, the Maintenance Act of 2003, the Electoral Act of 2014, and the Namibian Constitution Third Amendment Act of 2014.
Our recommendations depend, for their smooth implementation and their eventual enactment by the National Assembly, on a good working relationship with the minister of justice, the Office of the Judiciary, and the attorney general.
The current commission, consisting of a full-time chairperson and part-time commissioners, has undertaken to fast-track (during their term that ends in August 2018) issues of ‘red-line’ marriages, divorce, torture legislation, laws prohibiting development, the empowerment legislation (Neeef), insolvency and road safety.
As we celebrate 25 years and look forward to the next jubilee of our existence as an institution, law reform in Namibia will need to speak to the ideals of Vision 2030, the national development plans and the metaphorical Namibian House, edged out in the Harambee Prosperity Plan.
These policies are all part and parcel of the LRDC’s future outlook in a country enjoying peace and stability but challenged by the growing anxiety around high levels of income inequality and what is admittedly a precarious economic situation.
We are nevertheless encouraged that we have the kind of strong leadership under President Hage Geingob, who truly cares about the prosperity and welfare of his people.
