Iuze Mukube 

An urgent application of Entrepo Finance requesting to hold finance minister Ericah Shafudah for contempt of court in the event she fails to comply with a court order requiring her to detail, under oath, how to implement a fully functional payroll deduction management system, was dismissed on Monday. 

Windhoek High Court Judge Lotta Ambunda dismissed the application on Monday with costs. 

Entrepo had sought for the minister to declare under oath detailing how she plans to implement a fully functional Payroll Deductions Management System (PDMS), with or without Avril Payroll Deduction Management. 

In the event she fails to comply to detail the system’s implementation under oath, the microlender requested the court to declare and hold the minister in contempt of a court order and to be sentenced to a fine or a period of imprisonment. 

The application is arising from a High Court order of 28 November 2025 that was in favour of Entrepo, ordering the minister to desist from interfering with the loading of new deductions onto the government’s PDMS. 

Additionally, the order directed the minister from issuing instructions that no new deductions may be loaded onto the system and it ordered for the continued operation of the system, with or without the company Avril. 

Although an order was given in favour of Entrepo, it lodged an urgent application after it discovered that it was unable to get access to the system since the start of December, after the ministry took over the management of the system from Avril. 

The company claimed that the minister was deliberately not complying with the court order of 28 November, seeing as the PDMS was not functioning. 

It in the affidavit, the company claimed that over 70 000 deductions, for a payment that is due to be made on the system in December will not be made. 

Shafudah denied the allegations from Entrepo, stating that the inability of the company from loading new deductions is not because of her interference. 

The minister’s request to have the application dismissed and struck from the roll was granted since the court denied the local microlender’s request. -mukubeiuze@gmail.com