Court Reporter
PETRINA Nghipudilo Ya Shiindi, a member of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) political party, has issued a public apology to High Court acting judge Gladice Pickering for defamatory remarks she had published against Pickering.
“I, Petrina Nghipudilo Ya Shiindi, hereby unconditionally apologise to Ms Gladice Dehlia Pickering, as a result of defamatory and unverified statements I authored and published on Facebook towards and concerning her on or about 6 November 2025. I hereby retract the statements in their entirety, and respectfully ask that they may not be circulated further. I sincerely and unconditionally apologise for the harm my statements have caused to the reputation and dignity of Ms Gladice Dehlia Sonia Pickering,” reads a public apology published by Ya Shiindi.
The public apology was issued in relation to a post made by Ya Shiindi in which she had alleged that Pickering, during her tenure as the executive director within the Ministry of Justice, made use of her position for personal gain and had selected her husband’s company, Ulrich Pickering, to carry out works at the Ministry of Justice’s office located in the Sanlam building.
“We cannot keep sweeping corruption under the carpet simply because the faces involved are well connected,” Ya Shiindi had said.
Ya Shiindi, a staff member in the National Assembly working for the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), has now, however, admitted that the above remarks are not truthful and has retracted them after having been sued for N$250 000.
In June 2025, the High Court ordered Ya Shiindi to pay N$10 000 towards the legal costs of Air Marshal Martin Pinehas after finding that she had defamed him on social media by alleging he was plotting to assassinate IPC leader Panduleni Itula.
Photos: File
