Six prosecutors at the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court resigned between January and August this year, while others claimed they have been transferred against their will.
The latest resignation is that of prosecutor Chrisna Masule, who resigned last Tuesday.
In her resignation letter, Masule cited ill health and alleged unbearable conditions at the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Masule on Saturday said: “I am still an employee of the Ministry of Justice. Please forward your query to the public relations officer.”
Other prosecutors who resigned are Samingo Kasaona, Wilka Amalwa, Nelao ya France, Libertine Shiyaleni, Moyaz Jansen and Roger Sibungo.
Sources say some of these prosecutors were transferred against their will from the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court to other courts at Outapi, Okakarara and Eenhana.
Those transferred are Martin Mabuta, Pallhus Shuudeni. Ya France, Kasaona and Jansen.
They are now magistrates at Ondangwa, Oshakati and Rundu, respectively.
Shiyaleni is currently a maintenance investigator at the Oshakati Magistrate’s Court after she allegedly refused to be transferred to Karibib.
She reportedly refused to be transferred to the Erongo region, because of a medical condition.
“She wanted to be close to the hospital at Ongwediva,” the source says.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Shihaleni said she was not allowed to talk to the media.
The court has four prosecutors, sources say.
They say a woman prosecutor has been transferred from the Eenhana Magistrate’s Court as she had a rocky relationship with her control prosecutor.
“The office of the PG is a very toxic environment to work in. She’s treating it like her own kitchen, when it’s a public office. She likes attaching her emotions and personal issues to other people’s issues, especially when it comes to transfers,” a source says.
“You need to be a puppet to survive in that office. If you don’t report your colleague to the control prosecutors or to the prosecutor general, you won’t last,” the source says.
Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, prosecutor general Martha Imalwa said she is not aware of the resignations and the prosecutors who were allegedly forcefully transferred.
She did not force them to transfer, she said.
Imalwa said she has been informed that Masule is not feeling well and was admitted to hospital this past weekend.
“I am tired of being in the media for rubbish,” Imalwa said.
She said people accusing her of things she has “not done are mentally sick”.
Imalwa said the media has a personal vendetta against her.
When former magistrate Hileni Kavara was convicted of corruption the media did not report on it, but widely reported on Kavara when she accused her of being corrupt, Imalwa said.
“There was another guy who accused me of favouring a certain tribe, but it turned out that that man is mad,” she said.
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