By Eveline de Klerk
SWAKOPMUND – Thirty-nine justices and assessors from traditional courts all over the country attended a three-day workshop at Swakopmund, facilitated by the Ministry of Justice.
The workshop, which was officially opened last Monday by the Minister of Justice, Uutoni Nujoma, aimed to train justices and assessors on how to administer community courts, make proper records and be financially accountable to run community courts smoothly.
According to Nujoma community courts play a vital role in the country’s justice system as they take pressure off overcrowded courts.
“The courts have jurisdiction to hear civil matters and disputes in their communities. We want them to apply the customary law as it was in the past. Therefore our task is to help these communities set up structured courts whether it is under a tree, traditional building or in an office. We give support to these courts in the form of subvention. We give them a small amount to pay for their clerks and assistants, and a sitting allowance to their justices,” Nujoma explained.
He said in order to do this , proper structures financed by his ministry need to be set up.
“However we need to be accountable for the finances of these courts as they are funded with taxpayers’ money. We are basically teaching them how to budget and how to make proper use of the money while being accountable at the same time, while executing their duties according to their customs and norms,” the minister stated.
Nujoma went on and said the training will also assist the traditional lawmakers to make proper records while also continuously provide them with training in customary law.
“The other aspect is to write the laws so that in future we come up with one unified law that would be applicable to all traditional courts,” Nujoma added.
He says this is called the attainment in law and Namibia has many experienced writers that can formulate laws so that they can be preserved.