By Mbatjiua Ngavirue
WINDHOEK
The High Court on Friday postponed the urgent application brought by the Enghali brothers against the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement and the Government of Namibia for the second time.
The court originally set the return date for the application for August 31, 2007.
The court however postponed the hearing to September 7 following the failure of first respondent, lands ministry official Erastus Nghishoono, to submit opposing affidavits before the day scheduled for the hearing.
Justice Annel Silungwe again postponed the matter – this time to a date determined by the Registrar of the High Court, making no ruling as to costs.
Johannes Kamanja representing the Enghali brothers requested the postponement following an agreement reached between legal counsels for all three parties.
Justice Silungwe ordered that in the meantime the interim order made by the High Court in favour of the Enghalis should stand.
In terms of the interim ruling, the court ordered Erastus Nghishoono, and anyone acting on his behalf, to immediately restore the water supply to the Enghalis’ livestock on the farm Schellenberg in the Omaheke Region.
It further issued an injunction preventing Nghishoono, or anyone acting on his instructions, from in any way interfering with the Enghalis’ occupation of Unit B of the farm Schellenberg.
These rulings would remain in force pending the resolution of the dispute in respect of the Enghalis’ right to occupy Unit B of Farm Schellenberg No. 79, Omaheke Region.
In the alternative, the court gave the second and third respondents the option of allocating the Enghalis land in terms of the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act of 1995.
Legal sources say the latest postponement became inevitable because the procedures in motion court do not allow the parties to fully air their legal arguments in the case.
One or other of the parties might also in the meantime have raised additional matters that the motion court cannot hear in full.
The Government’s counter motion seeking the immediate eviction of the Enghalis from Schellenberg is an example.
The parties therefore agreed to the postponement to a date set by the Registrar to allow them to present comprehensive arguments on whether or not the interim order should stand.
At this stage, it is not clear when the High Court might hear the case again, with some suggesting the court rolls are so full, it might not be until 2008.
The two applicants, Ben Aluendo Enghali and Josef Shefeni Enghali, have been embroiled in a bitter dispute with lands ministry official Erastus Nghishoono over their right to farm on Schellenberg since early March this year.
The Enghali brothers cited Erastus Nghishoono as first respondent, the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement as second respondent and the Government of Namibia as third respondent.