Windhoek

With Nanso in the process of dragging the National Youth Council (NYC) to court to have its suspension nullified, the NYC still believes the situation could be resolved amicably instead of taking the legal route.

Delegates at an extraordinary Representative Council meeting of the NYC held in Nkurenkuru last month unanimously resolved to suspend Nanso for four months.

Nanso wants the NYC to stay out of its internal matters, with some even claiming there are no factions in the country’s biggest student movement - apart from some members of the previous Nanso leadership, who are apparently refusing to accept defeat.

NYC, on the other hand, is sticking to its decision to suspend Nanso for four months, claiming that it is concerned over “deep divisions within the Nanso leadership that emerged during the congress.” Chairperson of the NYC Representative Council, Neville Itope told New Era on Monday that it is unfortunate Nanso and NYC have to go the court route, instead of resolving their differences affably.

“It would have been better had they approached us to sort this out in a cordial manner. After all, we are not enemies. We are not taking sides, hence we decided to form a committee to help them,” he said.

On Nanso’s plans to drag the NYC to court, Itope said NYC’s legal team is dealing with the matter.  “All we want is to ensure that there are good relations in all our organisations,” he said.

With Nanso suspended, the NYC’s General Assembly will likely be held without Nanso in September, as the student organisation was suspended for four months.

“We are under strict instructions to approach the High Court of Namibia to review and set aside your decision on the basis that it is procedurally defective and is muddied by various non-compliances with the principles of legality, should the said decision not be reversed within a period of two days,” reads a letter sent to the NYC by Nanso’s legal team last week.

Nanso also demanded that the NYC provide a full record of proceedings, minutes and supporting documents, of last weekend’s meeting. NYC was given until last Friday to respond.

Nanso president Wilhelm Wilhelm said on Monday that Nanso has since given its legal team the greenlight to take the NYC to court, given that they failed to respond to Nanso’s concerns.

“We did not receive any response from NYC on Friday and we have therefore instructed our legal team to go ahead with the court case,” he confirmed.