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Windhoek – Associate Chief Justice and Presiding Judge Petrus Damaseb yesterday decried the idea by some lay litigants that no judge can preside over a case involving the Chief Justice. He said this when he dismissed an appeal that Ronald Somaeb filed against a decision by Deputy Judge Hosea Angula not to order Chief Justice Peter Shivute and two appellate judges to reconsider an earlier decision by them.
summary execution order for the expulsion of Somaeb from Erf 4765 to Katutura in 2014, he appealed to the Supreme Court which was dismissed and struck off the roll.
He then instituted proceedings before the High Court under section 16 of the Court which grants the Supreme Court the power to review its own decision.
The High Court however found that it did not have the power to order the Supreme Court to reconsider its own decision, especially since Somaeb did not not requested the application in accordance with the law.
Judge Angula further rejected Somaeb's claim that he should have recused himself since he could not sit in a case involving his boss, the Chief Justice.
Somaeb then again appealed to the Supreme Court against the decision of Judge Angula.
In this judgment, Judge Damaseb found that the appeal should be disposed of under Article 14 (7) a. the Supreme Court Act which states that it can be sent back without notice on the grounds that it is frivolous, vexatious and that it has no chance of success
. Such is the case, said the Vice-President of the Court, and Somaeb's appeal encompasses these elements and dismissed it with costs. With respect to Somaeb's request for Judge Angula to recuse herself, Judge Damaseb stated that she had no merit
"For this court to accommodate M's appeal. Somaeb, she must find that the existing relationship between the Chief Justice and the Judge Indeed, this implies that no judge appointed under Articles 79 and 80 of the Namibian Constitution (which governs the appointment of judges to the courts superior and supreme) can never preside over a case involving The Chief Justice, "he said in his decision.
He went on to say that to suggest that no judge in this country can preside over a case involving the Chief Justice is in itself frivolous, vexatious and without merit. stated that only judges appointed under Articles 79 and 80 may preside over cases before the High Court and the Supreme Court and that any judge, in terms of hierarchy, will be subordinate to the Chief Justice However, said Judge Damaseb , the idea that judges in this country duly appointed under Articles 79 and 80 can not preside in cases involving the Chief Justice has no legal basis and so is "It is obvious that the Chief Justice can not sit in cases concerning him and, therefore, judges of a status below him must provide because the Constitution requires them to do so, "said Vice President of the Court.
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