Katrina acquitted on corruption charges

DIVISIONAL Magistrate Alfred Siboleka yesterday acquitted Hardap Governor Katrina Hanse-Himarwa on corruption charges after a three-day trial.

At the beginning of the trial in the Mariental Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Hanse-Himarwa pleaded not guilty to two counts of corruption. On the same day the State Prosecutor decided to drop the first charge after defence counsel Sisa Namandje brought it to the court’s attention that the alleged offence had been committed a year before the Anti-Corruption Act was enacted in 2005. The dropped charge related to soliciting N$3 290 for the sewing of curtains for her official residence, and allegedly inflating and wrongfully allocating a curtain supply tender to a relative, Lydia Goeieman.Yesterday, the governor’s supporters who packed the courtroom broke into applause when Magistrate Alfred Siboleka delivered his verdict on the only remaining charge – that of misappropriating N$2 000 from the Hardap Regional Council’s entertainment budget.Siboleka said he was unable to find her guilty on the evidence presented to the court.In his submission on Tuesday, Namandje asked for his client’s acquittal, arguing that no single witness had proved that his client had used the money, which was meant for a Christmas party for the elderly, for her own purposes.luqman@namibian.com.na