Chief justice Peter Shivute has paid tribute to retiring Supreme Court judge Dave Smuts.
Chief justice Peter Shivute has paid tribute to retiring Supreme Court judge Dave Smuts as “a towering figure in the legal profession” in Namibia.
Smuts’ life and career “epitomise dedication, intellect and service”, Shivute said at a ceremony to bid farewell to Smuts and swear in his successor as judge of appeal, former High Court deputy judge president Hosea Angula, at the Supreme Court yesterday.
Smuts retired as a judge of the Supreme Court at the end of November.
He became a judge of appeal in the country’s top court at the start of 2015, after serving as a High Court judge for four years.
Smuts earned a law degree at Stellenbosch University in South Africa in 1977, was admitted as an attorney in Namibia in 1982, and obtained a master’s degree in law at Harvard University in the United States of America in 1983, Shivute recounted.
He was the first director of the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) upon its founding in 1988, and received a human rights award from Human Rights Watch in New York in 1990, Shivute said. He joined us on air.
