Zorena Jantze<\/p>\n\n\n\n
THE former minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform Mac Hengari and his co-accused will have to remain behind bars for another month after the Windhoek Magistrate court heard arguments that would have charges of bribery thrown out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
State Prosecutor Fillistas Shikerete-Vendura has argued that an application by lawyers to have the charges levelled against Mac Hengari, the former Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, thrown out is premature, as investigations are still at a preliminary stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hengari and his co-accused, a 31-year-old man, were arrested in late April 2025 on a charge of attempting to obstruct the course of justice, after allegedly attempting to bribe a 21-year-old woman who accused the former agriculture minister Hengari of rape. After failing last week to have Hengari released on the basis that his arrest was unlawful due to entrapment, the defence counsel, Patrick Kauta, today asked that the court quash\/throw out the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
State Prosecutor Shikerete-Vendura, however, argued that “after having due regard to Section 85 of the Criminal Procedure Act, the application can be classified as premature. Only when investigations are finalized will the Prosecutor General pronounce herself on the final charges and at which court the accused would be prosecuted. So this is prematurely brought before court. An accused, before pleading to a charge, can object to a charge\u2014we are far from the pleading stage, Your Worship. Baseless applications such as this are an abuse of court process,\u201d Shikerete-Vendura said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Referring to a letter sent by the Prosecutor General on 12 May 2025 to the lawyers of the accused, she added that they informed the defence lawyers that the charge sheet only has preliminary charges of attempting to defeat the course of justice and that additional charges, which include contravening Section 34 of the Anti-Corruption Act and incitement to commit a crime, read with Section 18 of the Riotous Assemblies Act, will be added on the next court appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnly once investigations are complete will the Prosecutor General finalize the charges. These charges can even be tried at a superior court, and thus these charges cannot be quashed by this court,\u201d the prosecutor argued, adding that baseless applications such as this are an abuse of court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Patrick Kauta, representing Hengari in the matter, argued that accepting the State\u2019s proposition would mean the accused must remain in custody indefinitely, pending an investigation into charges that they do not even know the nature of yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat can never be a proposition of law,\u201d Kauta said, adding that while Hengari is charged with attempting to give gratification as an inducement to withdraw a rape case, the investigating officer has not even once asked his client to answer to the rape allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor present purposes, Your Worship must accept the truthfulness of the allegation that they are going to investigate the gratification or inducement of the N$220,000 paid to withdraw the case she reported against the accused. We know that as a matter of fact and law that the accused has not been charged with a rape case. You cannot induce somebody to withdraw something that does not exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a matter of law, the inducement that they are alleging does not exist. You can investigate for another five years\u2014you cannot prove the inducement charge, as it does not exist,\u201d Kauta said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further to this, based on the statement given by the investigating officer, Kauta added that the investigating officer did not have a warrant of arrest or warrant of seizure. \u201cThat statement is made on 26 April at 19:30, shortly after the arrest of both accused. The statement of the investigating officer, obtained in May, is an afterthought,\u201d Kauta said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magistrate Monica Andjaba postponed the matter to 5 July 2025 for a ruling on whether or not the charges against the accused will be thrown out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zorena Jantze THE former minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform Mac Hengari and his co-accused will have to remain behind bars for another month after the Windhoek Magistrate court heard arguments that would have charges of bribery thrown out. State Prosecutor Fillistas Shikerete-Vendura has argued that an application by lawyers to have the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":376675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n