Judiciary tackles bottlenecks

TUYEIMO HAIDULAOSHAKATI Chief Justice Peter Shivute on Wednesday called for combined efforts to help improve the justice system, stating that the police, magistrates and courts can only achieve justice with combined efforts from the citizenry.Shivute made these remarks at Oshakati magistrate’s court where he met regional magistrates, lawyers and governors to listen to their challenges with regard to logistics and delays in magistrate’s court cases.Justice minister Yvonne Dausab was also part of the meeting.“We are here so we can iron out challenges and concerns as well as to ensure that we have a speedy and effective justice system.“We need to know what roles we play in making sure justice is not delayed. There are reports of slackening and performance in a number of cases outstanding,” Shivute told the officials.He said the country cannot afford to have a lax justice system that does not address the needs of the people because “the system is for everybody”.“We must work together with a common objective to bring about improvement to deliver justice to the people,” Shivute said.ReformsDausab said their aim for consulting was so they can think about the availability of remedies and to discuss reforms for the sake of Namibians.One of the issues raised at the meeting was the postponement of cases when investigators are unable to complete their investigations.Magistrate Mikka Namweya said sometimes it is not in their power when the postponement of cases happens, because they too want them completed as soon as possible.“Justice delayed is justice denied. The longer we postpone these cases it’s a denial of justice. What can be done is to get as many magistrates as possible to be able to assist.“I can assure you that we can attend to as many cases. Without them the situation is unlikely to change,” Namweya told Shivute and Dausab.The northern region has two magistrates who work on a rotational basis, which is one of the identified causes of delays.One deals with cases in Ondangwa, Outapi and Opuwo, while the other is assigned to Oshakati, Eenhana and Tsumeb.Oshakati has been without a magistrate for three months. Shivute told the gathering that the town would get a new magistrate by next month.tuyeimo@namibiansun.com

Judiciary tackles bottlenecks

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-18

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Judiciary tackles bottlenecks

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Namibian Sun 2025-12-18

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