By: Justicia Shipena

Former justice minister Sacky Shanghala says the prison consultation rooms are filthy.

Shanghala said this in his handwritten letter to the Namibia Correctional Services (NCS) deputy commissioner, Veikko Armas.

The letter was presented before the court in his bail application with five others on Monday at the Windhoek High Court.

“Then there is the dangerous level of filth in the venue. From the poo of birds that have made that venue their home to droppings of whatever rodents which share it with us as a consulting room,” he said.

Shanghala further complained that toilets do not have running water.

“The dust settles fast enough to eliminate traces of consultations from only 48 hours. The dirtiness is only matched by what is in the corridors leading to that venue, but I digress,” he stressed.

Shanghala added that the facility does not allow other professionals to be present during consultations.

“Ideally, one would be able to make calls, consult with other professionals such as accountants. This is not the case with the consultations at the Windhoek Correctional Facility.”

“Consultations are broken up by officials when other professionals join; they are not even allowed to make it past the gates.”

In the letter, he said that the stereotype of ‘fishrot’ has earned their lawyers and them the most rebarbative of treatment from officers of the correctional services facility.

“Your NCS ban of reading materials has affected my right to adequately prepare for the interlocutrices and the motions court appearances,” said Shanghala.

In this vein, he claimed that NCS does not give him protection to client-attorney privilege rights.

“The area at which we have been consulting for the past months with our legal practitioners, so many things are wrong about that venue. It is hard to believe an entire NCS would run this facility without delineated facilities to uphold, respect, and protect this fundamental right.”

He further stressed that acoustics in the consultation venue had caused them to abort consultations.

“The venue is utilised by as many as four different teams of lawyers’ consulting four different teams of clients in the same room. To make things worse, your officers sit in the consultations, and those officers walk in and out as they go to and from the lavatories.”

At the hearing, Armas revealed that Shanghala and his co-accused Puis Mwatelulo while incarcerated, have been found in possession of a cell phone once.

While the ‘mastermind’ James Hatuilklipi had been found with a cell phone twice.

Earlier this month, the commissioner-general of the Namibian Correctional Service (NSC), Raphael Hamunyela, had said that a senior correctional officer was suspended due to allegations of bringing a mobile phone to one of the accused.

Armas also testified that officers in the consultation venue are required to observe and do not read their documents.

Representing the three, advocate Vas Soni in court said: “If a person has been locked up for more than 14 hours without communicating with anyone, is it such a bad thing that he was found with a cell phone?” he questioned Armas during cross-examination.

However, the deputy commissioner responded, “Yes, it is against our laws.”

He also told the court that the accused are granted extra time for consultations when they make arrangements with him.

“We have granted them access to their clients and given them a consultation room,” he said.

After the incident with the former justice minister on enquiry consultation time, Armas said that he had not received further complaints from the accused.

The matter has been postponed to 11 March 2022 at the Windhoek High Court for hearing arguments.