The application brought by Fishrot-accused and former justice minister Sacky Shanghala, James Hatuikulipi and Pius Mwatelulo to compel the State to furnish them with additional documentation will be heard on 21 August.
This was decided by a new judge assigned to the Fishrot trial.
Shanghala and others want Judge Marilize du Plessis to order the State to provide them with bilateral agreements between Namibia, Iceland, Norway and the United Arab Emirates in terms of the International Co-operation in Criminal Matters Act and to disclose to them responses obtained from those countries because of mutual legal assistance requests made by Namibia.
They further want the court to order the State to make available to them information on communication between the Anti-Corruption Commission and investigators of their case.
In addition, they are asking for an order directing the State to furnish them with information on meetings held by an integrated investigating taskforce that carried out an investigation in their matter, including the minutes of those meetings.
Judge du Plessis ordered that the State should file their answering affidavit on the notice of motion by not later than 12 August, while Shanghala should file his replying affidavit by not later than 18 August.
Shanghala also informed the court that he is currently busy with another application that he will file upon the delivery of his application pending before Deputy Judge President Hannelie Prinsloo. In that application, expected to be ruled upon on 19 August, Shanghala, Hatuikulipi and Mwatelulo are asking the court to declare the appointment of Zimbabwean Judge Moses Chinhengo as unconstitutional.
Chinhengo resigned as the judge presiding over the Fishrot trial in July for personal reasons after Shanghala persistently sought his removal. They are also asking Prinsloo to declare all decisions by Chinhengo, including the taking of pleas, as null and void and order the trial to start de novo (from scratch).
He said that there are several pre-trial issues that need to be sorted out and questioned the timetable already agreed upon when Chinhengo was the presiding judge. Ricardo Gustavo, who has been without a lawyer since his previous legal representative, Trevor Brockerhoff, withdrew over lack of funds, has in the meantime succeeded in acquiring a Legal Aid-instructed lawyer.
It was announced in court that Peter Elago was appointed by Legal Aid to represent Gustavo. He, however, told the court that he only heard of it through the grapevine and has had no official communication from Legal Aid on the issue.
He also told the court that in his view, his lawyer will have to come on board and will have to work through the discovery that spans more than 165 000 pages and still consult with him before he can appear in court.
He said that his lawyer will need time, and the agreed-upon dates could not suit him.
Photo: Heather Erdmann