Fishrot accused and former Fisheries Minister Bernhardt Esau and Nigel van Wyk will again attempt to seek their freedom in the High Court on Wednesday.
On Monday, one of their co-accused, Tamson Hatuikulipi, was informed that he will still spend Christmas with the rest of the crew in the Windhoek Correctional Facility, as the verdict for his bail application will only be made on the 27th of December.
Acting High Court Judge David Munsu postponed the bail application of Esau and Van Wyk, who are adamant that the State has no strong case against them and that they need to be released on bail in order to better prepare for the actual trial.
The two, just like their eight co-accused in Namibia's biggest multimillion-dollar fishing corruption scandal involving an Icelandic company, Samerji, have in the past four years made various failed attempts to be freed from jail while awaiting their trial.
The expected decision in Hatuikulipi's application, as well as the hearings of Esau and Van Wyk, comes just two weeks after the Supreme Court ordered the return to the custody of another accused, Ricardo Gustavo, who had won his bail application almost a year before.
Gustavo spent a year in partial freedom after he was released on bail of N$800,000 by High Court Judge Herman Oosthuizen.
His freedom came to an abrupt end when a full bench of Supreme Court judges, after a successful appeal by Prosecutor General Martha Imalwa, overturned the earlier verdict.
Despite this judgment, which could be seen as a precedent set by the Supreme Court, the three, namely Esau, Hatuikilipi, and Van Wyk, are hoping for a different outcome with their bail applications.
Legal Analyst Yarukeekuro Ndorokaze, during a discussion on the Wheels of Justice on nbc1, observed that the Supreme Court's judgment has set precedence in the matter, although each applicant will be dealt with on their own accord.
"As to how that affects the others that are still to apply, there are things that are common, such as the charges, but there are things that are not common, such as personal factors, and therefore you would tell anyone who ever wants to take their chances to do so. But with a bail application, when you do it, you need to get it right because you only have that chance available if there are no other new facts that emerge. and I am not seeing a lot of them emerge."
Richard Metcalfe (assisted by Florian Beukes) and Mbanga Siyomunji are representing Esau, Hatuikulipi, and van Wyk, respectively, while the State is represented by Johannes Iipinge, Cliff Lutibezi, and Edios Marondedze.