The Popular Democratic Movement Member of Parliament, Vipuakuje Muharukua, has raised concerns about legal practitioners who allegedly corrupt debtors to represent them and share part of their winnings once they succeed with a case.

Muharukua was contributing to the High Court Amendment Bill tabled by Minister of Justice Yvonne Dausab.

The bill seeks to give equal rights to litigants' in-house or immovable property repossession cases.

Muharukua also stressed the need to have a Small Claims Court.

"The issue of the Small Claims Court will do a great deal to solve that problem. Because access to justice is not a monetary issue, the issue of access to health is not a monetary issue. It is a question of whether, if I am claiming a claim of N$20,000 or N$7,000 and then I end up paying N$20,000, then legal services are not affordable. So how do you address the fact that we must have a small claims court with the reprosit rules and procedure to ensure that cost in respect of the Small Claims Court is minimised?"

He further stressed that, in terms of affordability, justice is guaranteed for those who cannot afford legal practitioners to have a fair trial in an open court.

"Access to justice in this country is guaranteed not only by the act of the High Court; the Magistrate's Court is guaranteed by the constitution of the country that you shall have a fair trial in an open and public court."

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Joleni Shihapela