Judiciary tackles court delays

The low rate of finalising cases in Namibian magistrate's courts is a major concern for Chief Justice Peter Shivute.

At the opening of the 2018 legal year this week, Shivute said that between January and September last year, only 50% of cases were completed. A total of 38 435 cases were registered at the magistrate's courts during that period, of which 19 140 were finalised, he said.

“This is of great concern to me because at this rate we are building up a backlog of cases.” He said magistrates have blamed the slow pace on “inadequate courtrooms, malfunctioning and not enough recording equipment, and a shortage of both judicial officers and court support staff”.

In response, Shivute said a range of solutions were being investigated.



Change is needed

A key reform under consideration by the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force was to identify and implement short-, medium- and long-term strategies to deal with the delays, Shivute said. In line with this, a training workshop for aspiring judges was held, which included 12 magistrates out of a group of 15.

Shivute said this training enabled the candidates to be considered for appointment as acting judges. It also instructed magistrates in civil procedure, which is an area of law they rarely encounter in a magistrate's court. The Justice Reform Task Force was close to finalising draft legislation that would extend divorce jurisdiction to the regional courts, Shivute said.



The stats on the ground

Between January and March 2017, 20 871 old cases were brought forward within the lower courts and 5 983 new cases were registered. A total of 6 918 cases were finalised during that period. Nearly 20 000 outstanding cases were brought forward to the next months or years.

During April and June last year, 5 635 new cases were registered, and 5 501 cases were finalised.

After that period, 20 070 cases were brought forward.

A further 6 371 cases were registered between July and September 2017, and 7 299 cases were finalised.

Between October and December 2017, almost 19 200 cases were brought forward from previous months or years, and 6 805 new cases were registered in magistrate's courts across the country.

Nearly 5 700 cases were finalised and 20 263 were brought forward into 2018.



Some good, some bad

Shivute said fewer new criminal cases were finalised in the High Court in 2017 than the previous year.

“This is a worrying trend which is attributable in the main to defence lawyers being overbooked,” he said.

In response, the office of the judge president initiated consultations with the Legal Aid Directorate and the Law Society of Namibia to address the problem. “In the interest of the administration of justice, a lasting solution must be found,” Shivute urged.

At the Windhoek High Court main division, 20, or 23.8% of criminal trials were finalised in 2017, compared to a similar number, 19 (23.4%) in 2016. A total of 62 criminal trial cases were brought forward from the previous legal year and 22 new criminal trial cases were registered.

In terms of criminal appeals, 26.3%, or 87 criminal appeals were finalised by the High Court last year, compared to 23% in 2016.

Last year, 241 new criminal appeals were brought forward from the previous legal year, and 89 new appeals were lodged. Nearly 1 900 new criminal reviews were registered and 165 criminal reviews were brought forward from the 2016 to 2017 legal year.

Ninety-three percent of criminal reviews (1 894) were finalised.

In 2017, 3 633 or 89.8%, of civil actions were finalised at the High Court.

In Oshakati, the northern High Court division finalised eight criminal trials (72.7%), compared to nine cases (64.2%) that were finalised in 2016. In 2017, the Supreme Court registered a total of 93 appeals, reviews and petitions, of which 46 were enrolled for hearing and 45 judgments were delivered.

Twenty appeals lapsed, while 10 out of 16 petitions were finalised.

JANA-MARI SMITH