Patience Makwele
President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has called on Namibia’s justice sector to stop allowing conference resolutions to gather dust, saying discussions must translate into action that improves the lives of ordinary Namibians.
Making the call at the first State of Justice Conference in Windhoek on Wednesday, Nandi-Ndaitwah said the public should not judge the justice system only by its laws and institutions, but by what happens when people actually need justice.
“Justice is done when a person is heard, when a right is protected, when a dispute is resolved fairly and when the law treats the powerful and the powerless alike,” she said.
The three-day conference, which is being hosted by the ministry of justice and labour relations at the Windhoek Country Club Resort, is being held under the theme “Strengthening Justice in Namibia: Building an Efficient, Accessible and Trusted Justice Sector”.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said people expect timely services when they seek legal assistance, protection or enforcement of their rights, adding that the experiences of ordinary Namibians should guide efforts to improve the justice system.
She called for greater attention to access to justice at grassroots level, particularly where limited resources and other barriers make it difficult for people to obtain legal services.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” she said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah also urged the sector to use reliable data to identify its shortcomings and ensure that the conference produces practical results.
“Time must come when so many papers we produce at the end of conferences are put into action,” she said.
She said public confidence in the justice system could be affected when one part of the sector fails to fulfil its responsibilities, calling for closer cooperation between institutions while respecting their independence.
Chief Justice Peter Shivute supported the call for cooperation, saying the different institutions may have separate constitutional and statutory mandates but cannot operate independently of one another.
“Our mandates are distinct, but our work is interconnected,” Shivute said.
He compared the justice system to a chain, saying each institution represents an important link and that weaknesses in areas such as case backlogs, resources and coordination cannot be addressed effectively by institutions working in isolation.
Shivute said the conference should result in resolutions that set out who is responsible for implementing them and when that implementation should take place.
Meanwhile, justice and labour relations minister Fillemon Wise Immanuel, called for a rethink of Namibia’s justice system, saying legal reform must be prioritised, properly sequenced and adequately funded to meet the changing needs of Namibians.
The conference brings together justice-sector institutions, legal practitioners, civil society, academia and representatives from other Southern African countries.
Among those attending are South Africa’s justice and constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, Botswana’s assistant minister of justice and correctional services Augustine Nyatanga and South Africa’s public protector Kholeka Gcaleka.
