The decision by Cabinet to set aside certain jobs within the public service and employ children of the liberation struggle without them going through the recruitment process as required by law has been declared unlawful by the High Court.
Judge Thomas Masuku on 18 March interdicted the Public Service Commission, the prime minister and secretary to cabinet from continuing to implement a Cabinet decision authorising the appointment of children of the liberation struggle as part of the public service without going through an interview process.
He further indicated that Cabinet’s decision is unconstitutional to the extent that the decision is outside the bounds of Articles 10 and 21 (1) (j) of the Namibian constitution.
The Ombudsman John Walters and the Khorixas Constituency Youth Forum had dragged Cabinet to court after it received numerous complaints from previously disadvantaged Namibian citizens in relations to jobs reserved for the children of the liberation struggle.
The Office of the Ombudsman investigated the matter and found that there was a separate recruitment and appointment process for the children of the liberation struggle.
All Namibian qualifying persons who sought employment in entry-level positions within the public service and are not children of the liberation struggle would not be given an opportunity to compete for those positions.
The investigation also revealed that Secretary to Cabinet George Simataa would reserve vacancies for the children of the liberation struggle and such posts will not be advertised.
Simataa would allegedly then submit the names of those to be appointed for the vacant positions.
The names of the children of the liberation struggle to be appointed are simply forwarded without any disclosure as to how those names are arrived at and the process followed in arriving at the list of names selected for appointment, according to court documents.
It is further stated that there was no transparency in the recruitment process despite public funds would be utilised to remunerate the recruits. Local lawyer Tinashe Chibwana was representing the ombudsman and the Khorixas Constituency Youth Forum, while Freddy Kadhila from government attorneys was representing Cabinet.
-mamakali@nepc.com.na