New Acting Chief Justice sworn in

PRESIDENT Sam Nujoma on Friday swore in a veteran member of Namibia’s judiciary, Acting Judge Simpson Mtambanengwe, as the country’s Acting Chief Justice until the end of October.

Acting Chief Justice Mtambanengwe is set to act as the head of Namibia’s judiciary following the retirement of Acting Chief Justice Johan Strydom last week. He had also been Acting Chief Justice for four months in the first half of last year, when the then Chief Justice Strydom was on a period of long leave.The one-month-long appointment of Acting Chief Justice Mtambanengwe could be interpreted as a sign that Government and the Judicial Service Commission, which has to recommend the appointment of Judges to the President, have not yet been able to agree on whom to appoint as Namibia’s fourth post-Independence Chief Justice.As it is, Acting Chief Justice Strydom’s retirement presents Nujoma, whose own term of office is set to end in March next year, with an opportunity to still make a crucial judicial appointment that could shape the development of Namibian law for many years after the President has taken his leave of State House.The retirement of Acting Chief Justice Strydom is not without its own significance for Government’s relationship with Namibia’s judiciary.His term of office was in effect shortened by Government in mid-2002, when both the Supreme Court Act and the High Court Act were amended to lower Judges’ retirement age from 70 to 65.The effect was that the President was given the power to decide whether to extend Judges’ tenure on the bench by re-appointing them in an acting capacity once they had reached the age of 65.By not extending Acting Chief Justice Strydom’s term once again last week, Nujoma in effect chose to end the term of office of Namibia’s third Chief Justice since Independence almost four years before it had originally been set to end at the time that Strydom was appointed as Chief Justice in March 1999.Former Chief Justice Strydom turned 65 in mid-June last year.At that stage he was re-appointed to his post in an acting capacity for another year.In June this year, his acting appointment was extended for three months only, to the end of September.Last week, no further extension came from State House.It is understood that this was after Government had indicated to the Judicial Service Commission only about a week before the end of September that it did not want to have Judge Strydom stay on in his post.Informed sources have indicated that the now former Acting Chief Justice would have been prepared to carry on – but then only if it was not in a situation where he would have been imposed on a government that actually preferred to have someone else in the position.Sources have also indicated that the former Chief Justice’s retirement may yet prove to be only an initial step in a greater plan by Government to have another Chief Justice that has closer ties to the ruling party, Swapo, installed in the post, with the aim of packing Namibia’s highest court with Judges that Government would at least expect to be sympathetic to it from the outset.* The 72-year-old Acting Chief Justice Mtambanengwe also acted as Namibia’s Ombudsman from mid-September last year to the end of June this year.He has been a Judge of the High Court of Namibia since October 1994, having served as a Judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe since November 1986.He has continued serving in the High Court as an Acting Judge since turning 70 in December 2001, before the law was changed to lower Judges’ retirement age.He had also been Acting Chief Justice for four months in the first half of last year, when the then Chief Justice Strydom was on a period of long leave.The one-month-long appointment of Acting Chief Justice Mtambanengwe could be interpreted as a sign that Government and the Judicial Service Commission, which has to recommend the appointment of Judges to the President, have not yet been able to agree on whom to appoint as Namibia’s fourth post-Independence Chief Justice.As it is, Acting Chief Justice Strydom’s retirement presents Nujoma, whose own term of office is set to end in March next year, with an opportunity to still make a crucial judicial appointment that could shape the development of Namibian law for many years after the President has taken his leave of State House.The retirement of Acting Chief Justice Strydom is not without its own significance for Government’s relationship with Namibia’s judiciary.His term of office was in effect shortened by Government in mid-2002, when both the Supreme Court Act and the High Court Act were amended to lower Judges’ retirement age from 70 to 65.The effect was that the President was given the power to decide whether to extend Judges’ tenure on the bench by re-appointing them in an acting capacity once they had reached the age of 65.By not extending Acting Chief Justice Strydom’s term once again last week, Nujoma in effect chose to end the term of office of Namibia’s third Chief Justice since Independence almost four years before it had originally been set to end at the time that Strydom was appointed as Chief Justice in March 1999.Former Chief Justice Strydom turned 65 in mid-June last year.At that stage he was re-appointed to his post in an acting capacity for another year.In June this year, his acting appointment was extended for three months only, to the end of September.Last week, no further extension came from State House.It is understood that this was after Government had indicated to the Judicial Service Commission only about a week before the end of September that it did not want to have Judge Strydom stay on in his post.Informed sources have indicated that the now former Acting Chief Justice would have been prepared to carry on – but then only if it was not in a situation where he would have been imposed on a government that actually preferred to have someone else in the position.Sources have also indicated that the former Chief Justice’s retirement may yet prove to be only an initial step in a greater plan by Government to have another Chief Justice that has closer ties to the ruling party, Swapo, installed in the post, with the aim of packing Namibia’s highest court with Judges that Government would at least expect to be sympathetic to it from the outset.* The 72-year-old Acting Chief Justice Mtambanengwe also acted as Namibia’s Ombudsman from mid-September last year to the end of June this year.He has been a Judge of the High Court of Namibia since October 1994, having served as a Judge of the High Court of Zimbabwe since November 1986.He has continued serving in the High Court as an Acting Judge since turning 70 in December 2001, before the law was changed to lower Judges’ retirement age.