Niël Terblanché
A course on anti-money laundering, attended by Magistrates and Prosecutors from across the country did not sit well with legal experts, who questioned the authenticity of the Judiciary’s independence and separation of powers.
The course, which kicked off on Monday was organized by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
The decline in the separation of powers between officials who preside over Magistrate’s Courts and the Prosecuting authority as well as the lack of monitoring of norms and standards of justice meted out in the country’s lower courts was put in the spotlight when the Prosecutor General of Namibia invited various presiding officers to an anti-money laundering training course.
A circumstance where prosecutors and magistrates receive the same training is a dire threat to the independence of Namibia’s judiciary.
Several official letters from various law practitioners have been addressed to Martha Imalwa, Namibia’s Prosecutor General, to protest against the fact that the lines that separate the powers of the various functionaries within the lower court system are wilfully being obliterated.
Advocate Richard Metcalfe in a strongly worded reaction said that it is absolutely shocking to learn that the Office of The Prosecutor General is training magistrates and public prosecutors on the intricacies of the Prevention of Organised Crimes Act and money laundering offences.
“How can any member of the public expect fair-minded and just decisions in the lower courts under such circumstances?” Metcalfe asked.
Metcalfe was of the opinion that Namibia is standing on the edge of becoming just another banana republic.
“I absolutely support the concerns about the perceptions of injustice and biased raised by my learned colleagues on this issue. In 36 years of admission to the legal profession it seems Namibia is sinking inexorably and inextricably deeper into the realms of injustice,” he said.
Another law practitioner, Ileni Gebhardt in a formal letter addressed to the Office of the Judiciary stated that it is inappropriate, unethical and a threat to the independence of the judiciary to allow presiding officers to receive training from one of the parties in applications which they will be required to preside over.
“The independence of the judiciary is not only the cornerstone of our constitutional democracy but is an integral requirement of the legal profession. As role-players in the legal system, we have a duty to guard against conduct that may result in one of the role players or the public losing faith in the integrity and independence of the judiciary,” Gebhardt states in the letter.
Gebhardt went one step further and demanded that the training workshops must be stopped with immediate effect and that presiding officers will not at any time in the future be attending training conducted by one of the parties to applications that they will be required to preside over.
The fact that Magistrates in Namibia fall under the Ministry of Justice instead of being supervised and managed by the Chief Justice of the country is leading the country into judicial chaos.
Training, as well as the management of magistrates, should be provided by the Office of the Judiciary to achieve a clear separation of powers in Namibia’s lower courts as is the situation with the Justices serving in the High Court and Supreme Court.
