SPYL slander suit postponed

AN attempt to reverse a defamation judgement of N$250 000 that Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Veiccoh Nghiwete obtained in the High Court against an outspoken member of the Swapo Party Youth League executive, Veikko Nekundi, last year was postponed for five weeks yesterday.

Nekundi was ordered to pay Nghiwete an amount of N$250 000 in damages, and also to carry the Permanent Secretary’s legal costs, in a judgement that was given in the High Court on June 24 last year. The judgement was the result of a defamation claim Nghiwete had lodged against Nekundi over a statement that Nekundi had made about the top civil servant in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a press conference in Windhoek on March 26 last year.Nekundi did not defend the claim against him. As a result, the court granted a default judgement against him.The amount that the court awarded to Nghiwete is the largest amount of money that a Namibian court has awarded to a plaintiff in a defamation claim up to date.Facing a financial knock of a quarter of a million Namibia dollars, with Nghiwete’s legal costs still to be added to that, Nekundi is now asking the High Court to rescind the default judgement and allow him to defend the case.His application for a rescission of the judgement was scheduled to be heard by Judge Johan Swanepoel yesterday, but ended up being postponed to April 21.Nekundi, as SPYL’s Secretary for Economic Affairs, claimed at the press conference on March 26 last year that a meeting had taken place between the German Ambassador to Namibia, the President of the Rally for Democracy and Progress, and ‘some senior officials in the Swapo Party Government’, including the Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs and the Director General of the National Planning Commission.Nekundi also charged that the youth league had been tipped off that the people that he mentioned were discussing ‘stra-tegies to cause national destruction and confusion’.Nekundi added that the youth league had lost confidence in the officials mentioned.Twelve days after Nekundi had made those accusations, Nghiwete filed a defamation claim against him in the High Court.In his claim, Nghiwete – a member of Swapo since 1969, and a former comba-tant in the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia – stated that the remarks made by Nekundi were understood to mean that Nghiwete engaged in meetings that undermine the Government and the ruling party of Namibia. Nghiwete also claimed that the remarks were understood to mean that he conspired with a representative of a foreign government to engage in treasonous activities against Namibia, that he was involved in high treason and sabotage against Namibia, and that he was not a fit and proper person to serve as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.In testimony that he gave before Acting Judge John Manyarara, who granted the default judgement against Nekundi, Nghiwete told the court that the meeting that Nekundi referred to was in fact a dinner that was hosted by the German Ambassador during a visit of a German delegation to Namibia. He had no control over the guest list for the dinner, and he attended the event in line with his functions as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nghiwete testified.After the judgement had been granted against Nekundi, lawyer Dirk Conradie filed an application with the High Court on July 17 last year, asking that the court set aside the judgement and allow Nekundi to defend the legal action against him.Nghiwete, who is represented by Dave Smuts, SC, and Ramon Maasdorp, is opposing the rescission application.