Staff Reporter
THE Electoral Court today heard an application by the Katutura Rate Payers Association (KRRA) in which it took the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) to court after it allegedly denied its submission of manual nominations for the upcoming local authority elections, adding that the electoral commission sabotaged its nominations after it learned that Michael Amushelelo would be one of its nominated candidates.
The application arose after the rate payers association made claims that the ECN’s PSmas electronic system was defective and issued an error 404 message repeatedly, obstructing them from submitting their nominations list online before the deadline had lapsed on 16 October 2025. Sean Gariseb, who represents KRRA, said that his attempts to submit the nominations list manually, via submitting the form physically at ECN, were denied by ECN officials.
Representing the Electoral Commission in the matter, Advocate Jabulani Ncube asked that the application be dismissed, based on five points in limine, stating that the applicant does not clarify which exact decision they wish to impugn and by whom it was taken. He added that whilst the nominations submissions happened between 9 and 11 on 16 September, Gariseb had held a protest where he littered sewage at the City of Windhoek’s Katutura customer care centre. Further to this, he added that ECN officials do not have the duty to receive nomination forms, but that submission forms are rather given to the returning officer, Joseph Mbaeva.
Ncube said that the horses have bolted as only 20 days are left before elections, adding that by the time the matter would come to court and be decided upon, elections would have already taken place, making the matter moot. He added that the applicants failed to submit legal fees (security of costs) for the application, and failed to cite other interested parties in the application, which include other political parties/associations, the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, as well as the President.
Kadhila Amoomo, representing KRRA in the matter, explained that no one from the ECN has denied that an error 404 message was generated by their system, which resulted in his client, KRRA, not being able to register their nominated candidates online, adding that system failures, especially by government offices, ministries, and agencies, have no avenues to redress. “At least they should say we have a dual way of working; if the system is not working, forms should be submitted manually. Which law regulates systems in this country?” Amoomo questioned.
He further argued that the ECN on 17 October issued a notice to other parties in which they could rectify errors they had made during the submissions for nominations online, but that the same opportunity had not been afforded to KRRA, which could not even access the system in the first place.
Caption: Sean Gariseb, who is also registered as an independent candidate for the upcoming regional council and local authority elections, is fighting for the Katutura Rate Payers Association to also be registered.
