Ending the Windhoek High Court bottleneck: Why Namibia Must Take Justice to the People

The answer is simple: Take justice to the people and open a High Court at Swakopmund or Walvis Bay, Keetmanshoop and Rundu.

It is time the stupidity of centralising all High Court cases in Windhoek is halted.

We should have divisions of the High Court where each is presided over by a judge president. We remain a relic of the colonial past where everything was and still is centred in Windhoek.

The question to be posed is: Whose justice is it anyway?

One can only feel empathy with justice [Beatrix] De Jager’s dilemma posed by an unfair case load.

It is time that the legislative and executive branches of government extend attention to the judiciary. Where the judicial branch of the government is failing, democracy is failing in Namibia.

Justice De Jager is not on strike. She is trying to attend to a ridiculous work overload like a responsible member of the judiciary.

Once again we need to ask: Who guards the guardians?

We have a new Magistrates’ Courts Act that has been sitting on the shelf for two years now, which can devolve work away from the Windhoek High Court.

It, however, lurks in the shadows of darkness. We need more senior magistrates.

Again, we have a broken system in the Magistrates’ Commission which appoints and promotes magistrates. Rumours of tribalism prevail in appointments and promotions.

Again: Who guards the guardians?

Then we have assassinations of officers of the court at Oshikati and physical attacks on judicial officials at Gobabis.

Decent security is needed for all judicial officers. Anyone who denies the existence of a crisis in our judiciary lives in a myopic dystopia.

We need principled leaders in all three branches of government to preserve a fragile democracy which shows distinct cracks and is falling apart.

– Advocate Richard Metcalfe is a legal practitioner.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.