Samuel Shinedima
SHAFIMANA Ueitele, a high court judge, will deliver his decision on the interdict requested by Menzies Aviation to prevent Paragon from evicting them from Hosea Kutako International Airport with immediate effect.
The urgent application by Menzies Aviation for an interdict was heard in the Commercial Court on Monday evening and concluded two hours before midnight.
Menzies Aviation provided ground handling services at the airport until April 2022 when the contract was awarded to Paragon Investment. The aviation business filed an application to overturn the Namibian Airport Company’s (NAC) decision to award the ground handling tender to Paragon. The high court dismissed their application, and the company was ordered to vacate the premises and hand over its activities to Paragon immediately.
Menzies Aviation then filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, requesting that the court of appeals reverse the High Court judgment that dismissed their application. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and ordered Menzies Aviation to vacate immediately.
Menzies Aviation filed another urgent application to interdict the eviction a few hours before the company was supposed to vacate the premises of Hosea Kutako International Airport as per the Supreme Court order. In this application, they also asked for more time to allow the company to prepare for its exit from the premises.
Sisa Namandje, Paragon’s lawyer, contended that the High Court lacks jurisdiction to overturn a Supreme Court decision. Namandje argued that the Supreme Court’s judgment to order Menzies Aviation to vacate immediately is binding, and the High Court cannot overturn such a decision to grant them more time.
He noted that the company’s request for additional days to leave is an extreme abuse that undermines the court’s decision because the order to vacate was issued nearly a year ago, and Menzies should have anticipated evacuating the premises if the Supreme Court dismissed their appeal.
The judgment will be delivered on Thursday, 15 June 2022.
