AR overnights in chief justice’s street
OGONE TLHAGE
WINDHOEK
Pressure group Affirmative Repositioning (AR) on Saturday overnighted in Olaf Palme Street in the leafy suburb of Eros where Chief Justice Peter Shivute’s house is located, in protest of the manner the judiciary is handling the process of recruiting the prosecutor-general (PG).
AR activists initially marched to the Supreme Court on Saturday morning to hand over their petition to Shivute, but a security guard was instead delegated to accept the petition in which the movement demanded public interviews for the position.
Yesterday, AR called for the recruitment of the new PG to start anew, saying it was done secretively.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) recently announced that three candidates had been shortlisted - current PG Martha Imalwa, lawyer Ruth Herunga and FNB group legal advisor Taswald July.
The commission advertised the position as Imalwa’s current contract is set to come to an end on 31 December.
‘Very shocking’
AR convened in Olaf Palme Street and demanded Shivute receive the petition, which contains a new set of demands.
The group subsequently squatted on the intersection of Heliodoor and Olaf Palme streets, before the secretary to the JSC, Uno Katjipuka-Sibolile, accepted the petition.
AR spokesperson Simon Amunime took issue with Shivute’s refusal to accept the petition.
“We demanded for the recruitment process to be fair, to be transparent and that we don’t have secret interviews. We have written letters to the JSC but to our shock, we were very disappointed [on Saturday] when we expected the Chief Justice to receive our memorandum of understanding and a security guard welcomed us, which was very shocking,” Amunime said.
‘A clown complains on Twitter’
AR leader Job Amupanda had also questioned why the qualifying requirements for candidates were lowered. The JSC, he said, did not offer an explanation thereto.
“A clown complains on Twitter about the recruitment, and what do they do? The JSC went to issue new requirements so that this Swapo functionary benefits from the new requirements,” Amupanda, in apparent reference to the shortlisting of Herunga, said.
“No one can explain to us. How are we supposed to understand it if the JSC itself does not take us into confidence? In fact, as people who are inheriting this country, we don’t want to inherit a ‘skoroskoro’ country,” Amupanda said.
“The commission offered us no ears; we have no confidence in the process you undertook,” he added.
Potential for interference
AR also questioned the potential of former justice minister Sacky Shanghala interfering in the recruitment process. Shanghala is implicated in two parallel corruption scandals, where he stands accused of having used his office for self-gratification as well as money-laundering.
“If Sacky Shanghala can manipulate Parliament which is a body of 104 people, how about a body of five people? How do we know that Shanghala is not running the JSC from jail?” Amupanda questioned.
The JSC has been given until 27 November to consider AR’s new list of demands.
WINDHOEK
Pressure group Affirmative Repositioning (AR) on Saturday overnighted in Olaf Palme Street in the leafy suburb of Eros where Chief Justice Peter Shivute’s house is located, in protest of the manner the judiciary is handling the process of recruiting the prosecutor-general (PG).
AR activists initially marched to the Supreme Court on Saturday morning to hand over their petition to Shivute, but a security guard was instead delegated to accept the petition in which the movement demanded public interviews for the position.
Yesterday, AR called for the recruitment of the new PG to start anew, saying it was done secretively.
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) recently announced that three candidates had been shortlisted - current PG Martha Imalwa, lawyer Ruth Herunga and FNB group legal advisor Taswald July.
The commission advertised the position as Imalwa’s current contract is set to come to an end on 31 December.
‘Very shocking’
AR convened in Olaf Palme Street and demanded Shivute receive the petition, which contains a new set of demands.
The group subsequently squatted on the intersection of Heliodoor and Olaf Palme streets, before the secretary to the JSC, Uno Katjipuka-Sibolile, accepted the petition.
AR spokesperson Simon Amunime took issue with Shivute’s refusal to accept the petition.
“We demanded for the recruitment process to be fair, to be transparent and that we don’t have secret interviews. We have written letters to the JSC but to our shock, we were very disappointed [on Saturday] when we expected the Chief Justice to receive our memorandum of understanding and a security guard welcomed us, which was very shocking,” Amunime said.
‘A clown complains on Twitter’
AR leader Job Amupanda had also questioned why the qualifying requirements for candidates were lowered. The JSC, he said, did not offer an explanation thereto.
“A clown complains on Twitter about the recruitment, and what do they do? The JSC went to issue new requirements so that this Swapo functionary benefits from the new requirements,” Amupanda, in apparent reference to the shortlisting of Herunga, said.
“No one can explain to us. How are we supposed to understand it if the JSC itself does not take us into confidence? In fact, as people who are inheriting this country, we don’t want to inherit a ‘skoroskoro’ country,” Amupanda said.
“The commission offered us no ears; we have no confidence in the process you undertook,” he added.
Potential for interference
AR also questioned the potential of former justice minister Sacky Shanghala interfering in the recruitment process. Shanghala is implicated in two parallel corruption scandals, where he stands accused of having used his office for self-gratification as well as money-laundering.
“If Sacky Shanghala can manipulate Parliament which is a body of 104 people, how about a body of five people? How do we know that Shanghala is not running the JSC from jail?” Amupanda questioned.
The JSC has been given until 27 November to consider AR’s new list of demands.
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