Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro
Yes, if Namibia only had a few more of them, or could have a few more of them, then what a real proud land with people with integrity she will be. Needless to say in this age this is exactly what she needs, people of integrity to turn Namibia into the land of integrity and pride as opposed to just being the Land of the Brave. What bravery does she actually need today? To siphon off and plunder the national resources? Butcher, slaughter and behead those who are supposed to be loved ones? Inflict untold and unimaginable miseries on fellows, especially the downtrodden, that the country seems to have been spiralling down toward with no sign of hope, let alone in stopping, and reversing the downward spiral?
But there they were attesting, testifying and exemplifying to the fact that indeed one of the country’s judicial edifices is in good hands. They are the judges of the Supreme Court of Namibia who, recently for a few hours, sacrificed their premium time despite the court’s overload. Exchanging precious time and coming down to mother earth to be human that they are supposed to be. There they were the cream of the judicial crop attending a humble and unfashionable church in one of the almost-forgotten townships of the city, in the centre of the sprawling Katutura. Compelled by their human nature to be there for the sake of one who, normally and ordinarily, would not be seen as one of their own kind. But unknown to many and perhaps surprisingly so, one of their own she seemed to have been, and this night particularly attested to that as much the one they had gathered for may not have been aware.
Because, it seems, thanks to the leadership integrity of those at the helm of our Supreme Court, humanity is humanity. For otherwise how can one explain the presence of members of one of the foremost arms of governance being imbued with such earthly magnanimity and tenacity? But there they were physically, the head of the Supreme Court, the quintessential chief justice, Peter Shivute, together with judges Gerhard Maritz and Sylvester Mainga. Cramped in the suffocating environment of the not-so-spacious St John Apostolic Faith Mission Church of Archbishop Petrus Tjijombo. This night, the usually spacious church building seemed extraordinarily less spacious with members of the community and the congregation crowding it to pay their last respects to truly one of their own.
Joined by other staff members of the Master of the High Court, the High Court and Supreme Court, the judges were there to pay their last respects to the late Mara Tjikusere Tjituka, an office assistant but who, thanks to the attitude and the demeanour of those she had been assisting and serving, the judges of the Supreme Court, she seemed more than what she must have been. One would have thought she had been working on a different planet and place other than the earthly Namibia, and the place called the Supreme Court. A place it transpired on the night with extraordinary humans, and leaders of exceptional hue. Many who had gathered for the first time came face to face with these judicial creatures whom they knew very well and have been hearing about many a time. Because these lordships have been presiding over myriad cases that have had many sequels in the Supreme Court regarding traditional issues of particular concern and interest to many of the congregation members .
Such modesty and servility of the lordships is hard to come by in the Namibia where many a wretched have been and are still only dreaming and craving for meaningful representation by their parliamentary representatives. Some of whom after a couple of years remain to all intents and purpose only their representatives in name. Much so even their constituency councillors whom they are to be close to every day if not sharing with them their sorrows, trials and tribulations. But at best such affinity seems to have been relegated to the elections period, and the voters at most to mere subjects and servants, actually an euphemism for voting fodder.
But the learned members of the supreme judicial bench seem to give the different arms of governance a different human face that many Namibians know little about and have hardly been accustomed to. Such unprecedented face of humility, humanness and care, one wishes, are not transient attributes but ever lasting.
Attributes one hopes are not confined to leaders of the Supreme Court, but would rub off into the other arms of governance, Parliament and the Executive. Certainly the love and care that we are trying to inculcate within the Namibian society cannot and should not start anywhere else other than with those entrusted guardianship over the responsibility and accountability for our democratic dispensation. These are parliamentarians, Cabinet members and members of the judiciary. The “My Namibia. My Country. My Pride” campaign can only find groundswell and widespread, everlasting and deep-rooted penetration and acceptance, if those at the helm of our various edifices of democratisation do not only set the tone but lead by example, imbued by virtues of care, humanity, humanness, love and humbleness. And also by a sense of justice and equality. Justice and equality not only in terms of material welfare and wellbeing but also in the philosophical sense of great African-Namibian philosophers like Tjipangandjara wa Kahendjira. To borrow from him Tjinavandu tengovandu otjihinavandu ovandu matjikuyeka, literally translated this can be interpreted in the dictum of the age-old African saying, Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, “A person is a person because of people.”
It is thus reassuring to know that among our leaders there are those with such virtues as recently demonstrated by our Supreme Court judges. Surely they must have set a rare precedent, if ever a precedent this is going to be other than a political antic and theatre that has seemed hitherto to be shrouding relationships between people and their presumed servants (leaders) who instead have become usurpers of the social contract between them and the people.