CoD court case set for Friday

THE two rival factions of the official opposition party Congress of Democrats (CoD) will face each other in court on Friday in what will be an historic court case in Namibia’s political history.

The group under Ignatius Shixwameni, which walked out of a party congress in Keetmanshoop in May, filed an application to the High Court on August 24. It requested the court to order CoD leader Ben Ulenga “on an urgent basis” to retract his decision to expel three CoD parliamentarians and to comply with an agreement, co-signed by Ulenga, to declare the leadership elections held at Keetmanshoop null and void.The Shixwameni group, including MPs Kala Gertze, Elma Dienda and Nora-Schimming-Chase, said in their court application that they had enough evidence to prove the party elections were fraudulent.Shixwameni, who challenged Ulenga as party president, lost by just 14 votes.Both groups agreed later to have an independent audit panel set up to investigate allegations of irregularities and to accept the findings of that panel.The panel, chaired by District Labour Court Magistrate Clement Daniels, found several irregularities and fraud and it declared the Keetmanshoop elections “null and void.”The two CoD factions were then to elect three members each to serve on an interim committee which was to prepare another party congress within three months.However, the Ulenga group pulled out of this committee, claiming the elections in Keetmanshoop were “without any single wrongdoing”.The ‘rebel’ faction under Shixwameni, who formed their own ‘majority interim committee’ further asked the High Court to order the Ulenga group to hold another party congress within three months of the date of the filed court application (August 24) to elect a new CoD leadership.In terms of the Shixwameni faction’s court application, Ulenga and the four other respondents – Tsudao Gurirab, Rosa Namises, Natji Tjizera and Innocentia Mokomele – should nominate people to serve on an electoral commission “to be chaired by an independent person” to oversee the next party congress and the elections.Ulenga did not want to comment on the court application of the other CoD group.”I will not say anything at this stage,” Ulenga told The Namibian yesterday.Asked if his group had filed a responding affidavit, he would not deny or confirm it.”Let’s wait for Friday morning,” he said.Meanwhile, a source at one of the law firms handling the case told The Namibian that the Ulenga group had asked for an extension of the court date.”We are however confident that the hearing set for Friday at 09h00 will definitely take place,” the source added.Parliament will resume its sessions next Tuesday and it remains to be seen whether Gertze, Dienda and Schimming-Chase will return to their seats.”We will fight to the last drop of energy …we are capable of standing up for our rights ,” Gertze said in a statement issued by the Shixwameni group at the end of last week.It requested the court to order CoD leader Ben Ulenga “on an urgent basis” to retract his decision to expel three CoD parliamentarians and to comply with an agreement, co-signed by Ulenga, to declare the leadership elections held at Keetmanshoop null and void.The Shixwameni group, including MPs Kala Gertze, Elma Dienda and Nora-Schimming-Chase, said in their court application that they had enough evidence to prove the party elections were fraudulent.Shixwameni, who challenged Ulenga as party president, lost by just 14 votes.Both groups agreed later to have an independent audit panel set up to investigate allegations of irregularities and to accept the findings of that panel. The panel, chaired by District Labour Court Magistrate Clement Daniels, found several irregularities and fraud and it declared the Keetmanshoop elections “null and void.”The two CoD factions were then to elect three members each to serve on an interim committee which was to prepare another party congress within three months.However, the Ulenga group pulled out of this committee, claiming the elections in Keetmanshoop were “without any single wrongdoing”.The ‘rebel’ faction under Shixwameni, who formed their own ‘majority interim committee’ further asked the High Court to order the Ulenga group to hold another party congress within three months of the date of the filed court application (August 24) to elect a new CoD leadership.In terms of the Shixwameni faction’s court application, Ulenga and the four other respondents – Tsudao Gurirab, Rosa Namises, Natji Tjizera and Innocentia Mokomele – should nominate people to serve on an electoral commission “to be chaired by an independent person” to oversee the next party congress and the elections.Ulenga did not want to comment on the court application of the other CoD group.”I will not say anything at this stage,” Ulenga told The Namibian yesterday.Asked if his group had filed a responding affidavit, he would not deny or confirm it.”Let’s wait for Friday morning,” he said.Meanwhile, a source at one of the law firms handling the case told The Namibian that the Ulenga group had asked for an extension of the court date.”We are however confident that the hearing set for Friday at 09h00 will definitely take place,” the source added.Parliament will resume its sessions next Tuesday and it remains to be seen whether Gertze, Dienda and Schimming-Chase will return to their seats.”We will fight to the last drop of energy …we are capable of standing up for our rights ,” Gertze said in a statement issued by the Shixwameni group at the end of last week.