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Opuwo court’s power cut over debt

Home National Opuwo court’s power cut over debt

Ongwediva

The administration of justice at the Opuwo Magistrate’s Court came to a near standstill this week after northern electricity distributor Nored cut the electricity supply to the court due to non-payment.

It is understood the court owes the electricity distributor about N$41 500. Since the cut-off last week Tuesday, the computer system, in which all court data is contained, has also been offline, putting strain on the magistrates, prosecutors and administrative staff.

People who came to pay maintenance, admission of guilt fines, or suspects who came to reclaim their bail money, have all been turned away and informed to return when the electricity is back on. The telephone and fax line is also said to be off.

Senior public relations officer at the Ministry of Justice Simon Idipo confirmed that the court has been without electricity since last week. Concerned court officials said court proceedings have since been conducted in dark courtrooms.

In addition, subpoenaed witnesses in cases that were scheduled to be heard over the past week could also not claim their money and were reportedly told to return once the electricity supply has been restored.

“We do what we can manually, otherwise we are waiting for head office to settle this problem,” a frustrated official said yesterday. The source further said that the magistrates currently issue manual warrants for detention as the computer system is down.

New Era is reliably informed that volumes of Nored invoices are sent to head office monthly, but the ministry has repeatedly failed to fulfil its payment obligations towards the electricity distributor.

It is alleged the ministry has only been paying a portion of the bill, thus causing the arrears to accumulate. “The ministry never pays the full monthly amount, it always just pays a portion of the money owed,” the source further alleged.

Officers of the court now fear that cases scheduled to be heard in the regional court next week will not be able to proceed unless the electricity supply is restored.

The cases on the roll at the regional court involve a number of serious crimes, including rape. However, Idipo said the delay is not caused by the justice ministry, but by the Ministry of Finance.

“It’s true that there is no electricity at the court. I’m informed that the Ministry of Finance’s cheque printing system has been off since last week and only came back online today, but it is still malfunctioning,” Idipo said.

Idipo said the justice ministry could not predict when the electricity bill will be settled, as it is waiting for the finance ministry to issue the required cheque.