Sorensen pending cases still to be decided

NO final decisions have been taken yet on what will happen to the pending court cases involving Windhoek property developer Vincent Sorensen who died in the capital earlier this month.

Before his death following a short battle with Hepatitis A at Windhoek’s Medi-Clinic, Sorensen had a few cases pending in the courts.

His lawyer, Irvin Titus of Koep & Partners told The Namibian yesterday that consultations still need to be made pertaining to such cases before final decisions are taken.

Sorensen was the principal developer of the multi-million dollar Elisenheim Property Development Company (EPDC) situated a few kilometers outside Windhoek, and the founder of Viking Developers, a Namibian company which currently employs 50 permanent staff members and provides work on a regular basis for over 300 individuals employed as sub-contractors.

He operated quietly as a businessman and many only got to know him after his widely publicised infamous fallout with socialite and BEE entrepreneur Desmond Amunyela in 2011.

The matter, which had led to lawsuits and counter suits between the two men still awaits finalisation in the Windhoek High Court.

“Obviously the application of the law impacts on all of this, but we will have to make a decision once we have consulted our councils, the State and all relevant parties involved,” Titus said.

The pending criminal charge against Sorensen was brought by Amunyela over an alleged racist incident reported to have taken place at an upmarket Windhoek restaurant in 2011.

“That case won’t be able to continue as there is no longer an accused person,” Titus remarked.

A defamation case which Sorensen had lodged against Amunyela, two newspapers and four journalists in the High Court early last year also remains pending.

Sorensen was suing Amunyela, the two companies owning the newspapers Windhoek Observer and New Era and four journalists who were attached to the two newspapers in connection with articles published after the alleged racist incident at the upmarket restaurant in Windhoek in 2011.

The incident was widely reported in the media after Amunyela claimed that Sorensen had made provocative remarks against him, in which he suggested that Amunyela had a sycophantic relationship with former President Sam Nujoma.

Sorensen initially sued Amunyela, Paragon Investment Holdings and Paragon Media Group, which owns the Windhoek Observer, that newspaper’s editor, Kuvee Kangueehi, a reporter who was working for the Observer, Petronella Sibeene, and also New Era Publication Corporation, which owns the New Era, that newspaper’s news editor, Chrispin Inambao, and former reporter at New Era, Toivo Ndjebela, for N$10 million in a defamation case filed with the High Court in February 2012.

The N$10 million claim was later reduced to N$750 000.

Sorensen was claiming that the three articles published in the two newspapers were wrongful and defamatory in a variety of ways, in that he was depicted as being a racist, being opposed to racial reconciliation, having no respect for Nujoma and being corrupt.

The restaurant altercation between Sorensen and Amunyela allegedly happened after Sorensen had scribbled and sent a note to Amunyela. In the note he commented, referring to a large portrait of the Founding President on a wall at the office of Amunyela’s Paragon Group of companies: “Desmond, your effigy of our founding father is impressive. Unfortunately, the fact that your head is not visibly sticking out of his arse is not realistic.”

After a public furore erupted in the wake of media reports about the incident, Sorensen tendered a written apology to Amunyela and Nujoma.

With Amunyela still claiming N$2,1 million from Sorensen in connection with a property development project in Windhoek during 2007, Sorensen subsequently paid an amount of N$700 000 to Amunyela.

A High Court case in which Amunyela is suing a company in which Sorensen holds a 50 percent interest, Arovin Property Developers, for the remaining N$1,4 million is still pending in the High Court.