Hands off the judiciary - Dausab
Justice minister Yvonne Dausab has cautioned against attacking the judiciary, saying the body must be allowed to operate without fear of reprisal, political or otherwise.
Dausab said this on Sunday, in response to questions by Nampa over utterances made about the competency of the judiciary and its independence by Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi.
Swartbooi during a media conference last week said some judgements fall short of the required standard in law and logic and that the independence of the judiciary is fast being eroded. He further said a close analysis of some judgements by the judges shows that they must be rehabilitated to address their love for alcohol.
“Judges take decisions that when you read, you can see that here is whiskey talking… because the judgements don’t have a sequence,” he said, making reference to some poorly crafted judgements.
Dausab rebutted the claims, saying the attacks meted out against the judiciary were unfortunate as a key feature of Namibia’s constitutional democracy is judicial independence.
“It importantly curates a distance between politicians and judges. It is a sacred constitutional principle that mitigates the power of elected officials and is an instrument that is intended to ensure legal decisions account for the law and are not excessively influenced by politics,” she said.
Dausab said judges must make their legal decisions without fear of “reprisal of a personal, economic or political nature”.
“We must therefore hold the judiciary accountable to the Namibian constitution rather than to politics, elections and elected officials,” she said. Swartbooi was concerned about the judiciary’s independence, claiming it is under siege.
He was referring to an incident that led to the withdrawal of two LPM lawmakers from the National Council (NC) after a magistrate ruled that NC members could simultaneously serve on the regional council after Swapo councillors in that region refused to be part of the committee.
The politician further downplayed insinuations that // Kharas region – in which LPM is the ruling party – is on autopilot and assured that things are moving, meetings are held, plans are being made for development and investors are met.