Chief Justice Peter Shivute on Wednesday expressed concern with the mismatch of funds and workload facing the judiciary officers, judges and magistrates in the country.
Shivute was speaking at the event that marked the official opening of the legal year of 2023 in the capital on Wednesday.
President Hage Geingob, senior government officials and politicians from the National Council and National Assembly also attended.
Shivute, in his official remarks at the event, said the judiciary, which consists of the Supreme Court, high courts in Windhoek and Oshakati as well as the 81 magistrate’s courts and periodical courts, are all affected by the financial constraints.
He said in most cases the money is for the construction of courtrooms, to pay witnesses and fill vacancies.
“Imagine out of 994 posts at the Judiciary, including the five judges of appeal in the Supreme Court, 30 High Court judges, 104 magistrates and 885 support staff-members, 253 of the posts were not filled by December 2022 due to the lack of funds,” said Shivute.
According to him, the magistrate’s courts across the country were affected the most as they dealt with nearly 65 000 cases in 2022 and only finalised approximately 27 000, while about 38 000 cases were carried on to 2023.
The magistrate’s courts deal with a wide range of criminal cases, civil and maintenance cases, domestic violence cases and traffic related cases, said Shivute.
“I cite the statistics in order to take you on a journey and indicate to you the tremendous pressures these courts go through,” he said.
Shivute stated that for him to see about 27 000 cases of the 2022 legal year being carried on to 2023, means the performance was not satisfactory at the magistrate’s court levels and therefore, his office would have to look for funds to hire more magistrates and build extra courtrooms at regional, lower and periodical courts.
Despite the financial constraints, Shivute however pleaded for a competent judiciary system that would serve the nation with diligence, dedication, honesty and integrity.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
