WINDHOEK – Thirty-one residents of the nurses home at Windhoek Central Hospital that dragged government to court over the disconnection of their water and electricity supply succeeded in their application to have their amenities restored.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services issued the residents of Block A and Block B of the nurses home at the Windhoek Central Hospital with a notice that the services would be suspended on January 24 and this was done on January 27.
The applicants then lodged an urgent application with the help of the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) on January 31. However on that day their legal representative, Ricardo Mukonda, did not pitch up at court and the matter was struck from the roll with costs.
A re-instatement notice was then filed for February 04, albeit irregularly at the Law Society, but Mukonda again did not appear resulting in the matter being struck from the roll.
Another notice of re-instatement was submitted at the offices of the Law Society and the matter was set down for February 07 when both Mukonda and counsel for government, Advocate Jabulani Ncube, were ordered by Judge Harald Geier to meet the next Monday to try and sort out the issue amicably. They however failed to reach consensus and the matter was set down for yesterday.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Ncube argued that when the matter was struck from the roll it disposed of the matter all together and that no such case was before the court.
In his ruling Judge Geier said he could not uphold the argument that because the matter was struck from the roll because of the legal representative’s failure to appear, the case is not before court. According to the judge the applicants cannot be failed for the “remissness” of their legal representative.
“I am not persuaded to visit the sins of their legal practitioner on the applicants,” the judge remarked. On the arguments of Ncube that the applicants failed to establish urgency, Judge Geier said in fact the applicants showed a continuous resolve to have the matter heard on an urgent basis. He further said that it was never disputed that the applicants were in peaceful and undisturbed possession of the water and electricity at the nurses’ home and that the ministry disturbed their possession by disconnecting their water and electricity.
He said the applicants suffered because of the lack of the amenities and described the situation as grave. The applicants complained they could not bath, cook or use the ablution facilities, nor study. The food in their fridges became rotten and caused an unbearable stench at the premises, the judge quoted from the applicants’ affidavit.
The judge said he was satisfied the applicants met the requirements for an urgent application.
According to Judge Geier the applicants made out a case for expoliation relief and that the requirements for the restoration of the status quo were met. He made an order that the Ministry of Health and Social Services “forthright” restore possession of access to water and electricity supply to the applicants at Block A and Block B at the nurses home at the Windhoek Central Hospital pending the finalisation of the eviction proceedings lodged in the High Court.
By Roland Routh