Lessons For Nam’s Inept Judiciary

THE Sunday Times newspaper here reported over the weekend that a Labour Court Judge has slammed former Justice Minister, Penuell Maduna, in a landmark ruling in favour of a whistleblower he has fired.

The cases shares remarkable similarities with mine against the Namibian government a few years ago which I dismissed as a mistrial and a travesty of justice. The whistle-blower, Mike Tshishonga, an employee of the Department of Justice, sued after being fired following his public disclosure of corruption and nepotism at work.Maduna and the current Scorpions boss, Vusi Pikoli, then Director General, were sharply criticised by Judge Daya Pillay, who stated: “They took the charges against them serious and were relentless in their pursuit of the applicant”.Judge Pillay also criticised the SA Public Protector (Ombudsman’s Office), the Auditor General and even the Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad, for failing to probe the allegations.She said: “All the indications were that none of the persons or bodies was willing to investigate the complaints”.She described Maduna’s dismissal of Tshishonga as “vicious” and questioned why Pikoli would not reinstate him after he had been found innocent by two separate processes.I was cleared by both the Labour Ministry and the Office of the Labour Commissioner who stated that I went on authorised leave as the signed leave form indicated.I also stated that I was “viciously hunted down for exposing corruption” and told the court of the “ruthless clandestine plotting” to get rid of me.Judge Pillay said that the Minister had “demonstrated his wrath by removing the applicant.”I submitted an audiotape to the PM’s office and the Police in which the woman who was instrumental in the issuance of those fraudulent cheques clearly stated that her cousin (now PS) was “guilty of real fraud”.They, instead, opted to give me S&T for a month I worked for at the coast and framed me as a fraudster for monies I was entitled to with the help of a former colonial propagandist who later joined the media fraternity as an editor.A few years later the Police rang me up looking for the original tape which I refused as I did not trust them.I still have the original with all the relevant documents pertaining to my case which I will avail to the ACC this month although I still view it as a farcical exercise who will never go after the real big fish and is, in essence, a cheap yet clever way of extorting money from the gullible western donor.What is exasperating is the fact that almost everybody knew who I was writing about in my first letter without me having divulged the identity of the fraudster/s and it is evident that the President and PM’s tribes are above the law and enjoy unlimited political/tribal protection for known crimes.The Namibian media’s double standards and hypocrisy is, to say the least, deplorable and reinforces that country’s corrupt, dictatorial tribal political system! The independence of the judiciary is a living reality here in South Africa, unlike in Namibia where it is at the beck and call of the ruling party’s hoity-toity politicians.This is compounded by the fact that southern Africa’s desert politicians are not subjected to the same intense media scrutiny as their South African counterparts! Corruption is a multi-million-dollar industry in Namibia and with little or no checks and balances it flourished during the Nujoma era.With the right surname, one could get away with murder and many corrupt politicians and senior public officials hid their vast business interests in fishing and other concessions using the names of relatives with different surnames and by using proxies.Today, stolen money is laundered through the acquisition of property by using proxies where a junior clerk “owns” up to four or five up-market properties in the former whites-only areas and outside the borders here in South Africa and elsewhere! I wrote to two prominent newspapers here in South Africa and abroad that Namibia, one of the most corrupt countries in the world, was indeed an accident waiting to happen unless the international community, which realised its independence, started taking keen interest in what is happening in that country!Jora Jochem Cape TownThe whistle-blower, Mike Tshishonga, an employee of the Department of Justice, sued after being fired following his public disclosure of corruption and nepotism at work.Maduna and the current Scorpions boss, Vusi Pikoli, then Director General, were sharply criticised by Judge Daya Pillay, who stated: “They took the charges against them serious and were relentless in their pursuit of the applicant”.Judge Pillay also criticised the SA Public Protector (Ombudsman’s Office), the Auditor General and even the Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad, for failing to probe the allegations.She said: “All the indications were that none of the persons or bodies was willing to investigate the complaints”.She described Maduna’s dismissal of Tshishonga as “vicious” and questioned why Pikoli would not reinstate him after he had been found innocent by two separate processes.I was cleared by both the Labour Ministry and the Office of the Labour Commissioner who stated that I went on authorised leave as the signed leave form indicated.I also stated that I was “viciously hunted down for exposing corruption” and told the court of the “ruthless clandestine plotting” to get rid of me.Judge Pillay said that the Minister had “demonstrated his wrath by removing the applicant.”I submitted an audiotape to the PM’s office and the Police in which the woman who was instrumental in the issuance of those fraudulent cheques clearly stated that her cousin (now PS) was “guilty of real fraud”.They, instead, opted to give me S&T for a month I worked for at the coast and framed me as a fraudster for monies I was entitled to with the help of a former colonial propagandist who later joined the media fraternity as an editor.A few years later the Police rang me up looking for the original tape which I refused as I did not trust them.I still have the original with all the relevant documents pertaining to my case which I will avail to the ACC this month although I still view it as a farcical exercise who will never go after the real big fish and is, in essence, a cheap yet clever way of extorting money from the gullible western donor.What is exasperating is the fact that almost everybody knew who I was writing about in my first letter without me having divulged the identity of the fraudster/s and it is evident that the President and PM’s tribes are above the law and enjoy unlimited political/tribal protection for known crimes.The Namibian media’s double standards and hypocrisy is, to say the least, deplorable and reinforces that country’s corrupt, dictatorial tribal political system! The independence of the judiciary is a living reality here in South Africa, unlike in Namibia where it is at the beck and call of the ruling party’s hoity-toity politicians.This is compounded by the fact that southern Africa’s desert politicians are not subjected to the same intense media scrutiny as their South African counterparts! Corruption is a multi-million-dollar industry in Namibia and with little or no checks and balances it flourished during the Nujoma era.With the right surname, one could get away with murder and many corrupt politicians and senior public officials hid their vast business interests in fishing and other concessions using the names of relatives with different surnames and by using proxies.Today, stolen money is laundered through the acquisition of property by using proxies where a junior clerk “owns” up to four or five up-market properties in the former whites-only areas and outside the borders here in South Africa and elsewhere! I wrote to two prominent newspapers here in South Africa and abroad that Namibia, one of the most corrupt countries in the world, was indeed an accident waiting to happen unless the international community, which realised its independence, started taking keen interest in what is happening in that country! Jora Jochem Cape Town