By Kuvee Kangueehi
Windhoek
The Windhoek High Court on Friday, without hearing any arguments from any of the parties, postponed the Congress of Democrats (CoD) case to January 28 and 29, 2008.
However, before postponing the matter, Judge Louis Miller handed down a court order, which prevents the four applicants, namely Nora Schimming-Chase, Elma Dienda, Kalla Gertze and Herbert Schultz from being expelled from the public offices they occupy.
Miller said the CoD leadership under Ben Ulenga should not take any steps to replace Schimming-Chase, Dienda and Gertze as members of the National Assembly and Schultz as a member of the Council of the Municipality of Windhoek.
The Judge also ordered that the CoD should not prevent these applicants from participating in the activities of the respective legislative assemblies and performing their functions and fullfilling their duties as members of those assemblies.
Before handing down the order, Judge Miller expressed his disappointment with the application and said the dispute within the CoD is a matter that should be solved internally.
The Judge felt that the application is an abuse of the courts and said after he had studied the papers, he was convinced that the matter cannot be considered on an urgent basis.
Judge Miller also questioned the decision by the applicants to oppose a postponement and said the applicants had three weeks to prepare their application and left the respondents with less than two weeks to prepare the answering affidavit.
The High Court also set dates for the submission of court papers and said the applicants should supplement their founding papers not later than Friday, September 28, 2007 while the respondents should file their answering affidavits not later than Friday, October 12, 2007.
In a media release issued on Friday afternoon, Natji Tjirera said the CoD leadership has decided to oppose the application being heard on an urgent basis.
“We have proposed not to replace the four of the expelled members in the public bodies they have been serving, until the court delivers its judgment in January 2008.”
Tjirera said Ulenga and the CoD National Executive Committee (NEC) elected at the extraordinary congress at Keetmanshoop remain in charge of the party.
Ulenga urged all the members to continue to build the party and not to participate in the factional activities intended to divide or dismember the party.
“The leadership will continue to protect the interest of the party and to set in motion the process of unifying the party and we shall further work to retrieve all the party assets such as funds and vehicles taken by some of the expelled former members.”
On August 23, 2007, the applicants who are also leaders of the group that walked out of the party’s extraordinary congress in early May in Keetmanshoop, took the CoD and its leaders to court, demanding that the court urgently forces the party to nullify their expulsion.
The applicants applied that an interim leadership take over the running of the party, as per the audit panel agreement and that the Keetmanshoop election results be declared null and void.
The six respondents in the application are the CoD, Ulenga, Tsudao Gurirab, Rosa Namises, Tjirera and Innocentia Mokomele.
The respondents were represented by Harold Geier instructed by Fran???_?_’???_?’???_?