NEFF Appeals to High Court After Electoral Case Dismissal

• By Allexer Namundjembo

Namibia Economic Freedom Fighter’s deputy president Kalimbo Iipumbu said his party is heading to the high court after the Electoral Court refused to hear their matter.

NEFF approached the electoral court with an urgent application for the court to review the decision of the ECN to deregister it as a political party in June of this year. 

ECN claimed that they deregistered NEFF for failing to comply with the electoral act, and NEFF could not submit their financial audited report. 

The party was deregistered despite failing to reach the due date given.

NEFF seeks the court to prevent ECN from proceeding with the implementation of the decision to deregister NEFF as a political party and the court to order ECN to halt putting their decision on hold until the matter is finalized.

‘’What happens is that the Electoral court just pronounced itself that they cannot hear our matter, and it was not the final judgement. We will now proceed to the right court, which is the high court,’’ Iipumbu said.

Iipumbu added that his party is ready to appeal the matter to the high court, and they are already filing applications.

In a judgment, the electoral court said NEFF failed to establish that the court has the necessary jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate the interim interdictory premised on the review application of the decision of ECN.

‘’It follows that this court does not have the necessary jurisdictions to hear and adjudicate to grant the orders sought by NEEF. I further find that this court’s lack of jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate the present application does not by any measure shut the courtroom doors in the face of the applicant,’’ the judgement reads.

The court further ruled that it held the view that the applicant failed to establish that the electoral court has the necessary jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate the interim interdictory application premised on the review application of the decision taken by ECN.

The ECN raised to the electoral court that what NEFF seeks is review relief and that the electoral court’s powers to review the ECN’s decisions are limited to what is provided for in the act. 

‘’The applicant contended the contrary, namely that the electoral court retains the same wide powers as the high court and that the court should interpret the act in a manner that embraces the political rights of parties and persons, as opposed to shutting the door to the litigants’’ the judgment further reads.

The electoral court dismissed the NEFF case with no costs, citing that they lacked jurisdictions to hear the matter. The case was also removed from the roll.