EDITORIAL: Reversing court judgments we don't like sets dangerous precedent
The Supreme Court and its justices are under immense pressure to reverse a ruling that obliges the home affairs ministry to issue resident and other relevant permits to foreign same-sex spouses married to Namibians.
Unless the judges introspect – on their own professional accord and not because they are pressured to do so – we are setting a dangerous precedent against our justice system.
We cannot become a nation where court authority is only respected when rulings are in our favour. Like one revered lawyer remarked, a case will never have finality if we adopt the precedent of approaching the chief justice every time we are not happy with a ruling of the Supreme Court.
It’s easier to think that bullying courts in order to get our preferred results is acceptable. If the tables were turned and someone powerful forced the courts to rescind a ruling that was originally in our favour, we would find it both repugnant and undemocratic.
In fact, if such behaviour manifests and takes hold of the very fibre that has held our country together as a functioning democracy for three decades, our very existence as a nation will cease to exist. The rule of law is what kept us going, and it’s the courts’ prerogative to ensure that our differences are settled according to the rules we have set for ourselves.
If courts are disempowered to administer law, people will settle their differences through violence.
Unless the judges introspect – on their own professional accord and not because they are pressured to do so – we are setting a dangerous precedent against our justice system.
We cannot become a nation where court authority is only respected when rulings are in our favour. Like one revered lawyer remarked, a case will never have finality if we adopt the precedent of approaching the chief justice every time we are not happy with a ruling of the Supreme Court.
It’s easier to think that bullying courts in order to get our preferred results is acceptable. If the tables were turned and someone powerful forced the courts to rescind a ruling that was originally in our favour, we would find it both repugnant and undemocratic.
In fact, if such behaviour manifests and takes hold of the very fibre that has held our country together as a functioning democracy for three decades, our very existence as a nation will cease to exist. The rule of law is what kept us going, and it’s the courts’ prerogative to ensure that our differences are settled according to the rules we have set for ourselves.
If courts are disempowered to administer law, people will settle their differences through violence.
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Namibian Sun
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