Roland Routh

WINDHOEK - Windhoek High Court Judge Christi Liebenberg, who is presiding over the corruption trial of current education minister and former governor of the Hardap Region Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, yesterday questioned her on various aspects of her testimony to get clarity. First he wanted to know from Hanse-Himarwa what her duties were as the Hardap Governor. 
Hanse-Himarwa explained that she is more of a consultant for the central government and that she was responsible for observing what was happening in the region and then reporting back to central government and the President. “I did not have any administrative functions,” she said. The minister further told the judge that she had no power or authority to instruct or direct administrators. 
Judge Liebenberg also wanted to know from the minister on what authority did she then send the letter to the Mariental Municipality to request them to keep her informed on the mass housing scheme.
She answered the judge that she did so only after she received complaints from the community about the manner in which the mass housing situation was handled by the municipality. She said it was within the parameters of consulting and of knowing what is happening in her region. The letter was sent by her personal assistant Carl Stephanus Christians, she said. The judge further wanted to know from about a meeting of December 17, 2014 where several witnesses testified that the list of beneficiaries was discussed. 
She denied this and said that to her knowledge, the only matter that was discussed at that meeting was the programme of handing over the houses to the beneficiaries. She also said that she was given the final list at that meeting and was satisfied. She was satisfied, she said, because her concerns that the list was not authorized by a resolution of the local authority council was addressed and not because her two family members were inserted on the list. Hanse-Himarwa further told the judge she is not aware of any meeting with Marien Castro, the then advisor of the local government and housing minister, where the list was discussed on December 16, 2014. While she would not say he was wrong when he testified to that effect, she did say, “there might have been confusion”.  
On a question from Judge Liebenberg when she first noticed irregularities in the allocation of houses as was put to one of the state witnesses by her counsel, the former governor answered that it was after disclosure of the docket was made and she studied the documents. 
According to Hanse-Himarwa, she discovered that the application of Piet Fransman, one of the people that were replaced on the original list, was submitted much later than that of the two women who replaced him. According to her, she thought the overriding requirement for qualification was first come first served. After the judge finished questioning the minister, Sisa Namandje her counsel, called Christians to the stand, He merely confirmed that he typed the letter sent to the Mariental Municipality wherein they requested more information about the mass housing. 
He told the court he received complaints from three ladies that people who applied for housing much later than them were approved as beneficiaries of mass housing. He then typed the letter after consulting with Hanse-Himarwa, Christians said. He further said that he delivered the letter himself and followed up on it sometime later when he was presented with the list of applicants for the Build Together Scheme from 2007.
The trial is continuing today. State Advocate Ed Marondedze is prosecuting assisted by Advocate Solomon Kanyemba. Hanse-Himarwa who was as always stylishly dressed in a black skirt and top with a green jacket is free on a warning.