Prominent Namibian lawyer Dirk Conradie has reignited the black empowerment debate in the Windhoek High Court, where he stands accused of flouting processes for gratification. 

Conradie, who took High Court judge Thomas Masuku through his journey from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of Namibia’s legal fraternity, said the purpose for meeting the owners of DV8 Saatchi and Saatchi was not to influence them to take on Sara Ngenohani Damases as a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partner, but to inform them that BEE is a necessary component for anyone who wants to do business with MTC. 

Conradie was the chairperson of the mobile telecommunications company at the time.

He and Damases face three counts of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act for allegedly attempting to bribe Mark Bongers and his wife and business partner, Kim Fields, with the massive advertising contract from MTC if they took Damases on board as a BEE partner.

Conradie vehemently denied the accusations, and said he never remotely suggested that the company takes on Damases, but only spoke of transformation in the upper echelons of white-owned companies. 

Bongers made a recording of the meeting he and Fields had with Conradie and Damases in Conradie’s office on 12 June 2012, and subsequently reported the alleged bribe offer to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

In the recordings, Conradie can be heard asking Bongers and Fields whether they have a BEE partner, and when Bongers answered in the negative, Conradie said he can provide them with one.

Humble beginning 

During his testimony last week, Conradie told the court about his upbringing in Mariental, and the severe discrimination he saw and endured first-hand. 

That was what inspired him to become a lawyer to assist in empowering the dejected and downtrodden masses in Namibia. He, however, said he first wanted to study human rights but was denied a scholarship because, at that time, human rights were not recognised in Namibia. 

That was when, with the help of friends and family, he enrolled at the University of the Western Cape to study law. He further enthralled the court with tales about how, as a child, he and his friends went to the field to harvest wild onions and ate them with salt and in the afternoons went to the dumpsite, where they would pluck tomatoes that grew there and eat them with salt.

 He further said the only solid meal he would have is when his mother would return home from her work for white bosses with leftovers. 

He also told the court that the only shops were in the white section of the town, and when they were sent to the shops, the white boys would chase them on their bicycles and, in most cases, rob them of the purchases. 

Further, he said, the police would always chase them and hit them with sjamboks if they found them in the white section of the town. 

Conradie also told the court that he only mentioned all these things so that the court could understand where he came from and what shaped his mind and his way of doing things. 

“The only thing I ever wanted to do is change the circumstances of my fellow black Namibians, to become wheelbarrow owners instead of wheelbarrow pushers,” Conradie told the judge. 

He said that was what drove him to become an example for other blacks who suffered under the yoke of apartheid. Regarding his alleged transgressions, he told the judge that he only had good intentions when he approached Bongers and Fields. 

“I never suggested to them to take on Damases as their BEE partner,” he insisted and said he only discussed their lack of black empowerment at the company with them. If they took it the wrong way, it is totally up to them, he told the judge. 

He further said his taking up directorships in various state-owned enterprises was not a means to enrich himself but to empower ordinary citizens.

According to him, his law practice would suffer due to his absences when taking up the positions at the SOEs to bring ordinary citizens into the mainstream of the Namibian economy, as there are no laws for black empowerment. If there was, he asked, “why are our people living like this and suffering like this?” 

With regard to the charge that he was a public officer, he maintained that MTC is a public entity with private shareholding. This, he said, abundantly makes it clear that he was not a public officer during his tenure as chairperson of MTC. 

Conradie is currently facing cross-examination by State advocate Ed Marondedze. He is represented by Vas Soni SC from South Africa, on instructions from Advocate Slysken Makando and Damases by Vetu Uanivi. They are both free on bail.

-rrouth@nepc.com.na