Red line trial set for next year

Trial dates have been set for next year, from 21 January to 31 January, in the legal battle to have the veterinary cordon fence, also known as the red line, removed.

Affirmative Repositioning (AR) activist Job Amupanda filed a case on 26 May 2022, seeking a court order to have the fence declared illegal and unconstitutional.

He listed Agriculture Minister Calle Schlettwein, the government, Attorney-General Festus Mbandeka, and an official in the Directorate of Veterinary Services, Hango Nambinga, as defendants in the matter.

The Meat Board of Namibia has been added as a defendant after it asked for leave to intervene, while two commercial farmers and the Namibia Agricultural Union have also joined as defendants.

The matter suffered a setback earlier this year when the Supreme Court overturned a High Court decision to allow Amupanda to provide evidence of his financial resources for a protective costs order.

Amupanda filed an application for the order – granted when a case involves matters of public interest, but a party does not have the necessary funds to pay legal costs – last year, saying just the trial over the removal of the red line would cost approximately N$3.56 million in legal fees.

A ruling in the protective cost order will be made on 25 October.

Amended claim

Last year, Amupanda also amended his particulars of claim.

This after defendants in the matter moved to strike some of the allegations in his original claim.

In his amended claim, the activist said the red line was erected to act as a shield and to insulate persons who reside south of the fence and their livestock from perceived or actual diseases that emanate from people who reside north of the red line and their livestock.

He said this protection and insulation are not accorded to people who reside north of the red line and their livestock, adding that this is discriminatory.

Amupanda said the fence continues to be used to “control the movement of animals and black people from the north” to the south of Namibia.

According to him, the red line, as a colonial structure, is unconstitutional on the basis that it was erected to achieve colonial aims and objectives.

Claims against government study

Amupanda has recently accused the government of misleading the public on the issue of the veterinary cordon fence.

He claimed that Cabinet’s recent announcement of a new feasibility study on the removal of the red line is nothing more than a costly repetition of work already completed a decade ago.

Cabinet approved a phased approach to lifting restrictions imposed by the red line and announced that its proposed feasibility study is set to be conducted over the next two years to assess the potential impacts of removing the fence.

The study will inform plans for creating disease-free zones within identified areas, including Mangetti, Karikubis, Tsumkwe, Mangetti East farms, Mangetti West, Onalusheshete farms, Ombuga, Omutambo Maowe and Sesfontein.

According to Amupanda, a government-commissioned report from 2014 already addressed the very issues Cabinet is now claiming to explore. He said there is already a feasibility study – paid for by taxpayers – dating back to 2014. It involved consultations with all stakeholders, cost millions, and resulted in a 300- or 500-page report.