Windhoek — THE Windhoek High Court yesterday reserved judgement in a case in which one of two rival Congress of Democrats (CoD) groups approached the court to stop the other group from expelling them.

The High Court heard arguments from the two rival factions, which split after a controversial party congress held at Keetmanshoop last year.

After an unsuccessful request for a postponement of the hearing on Monday, arguments could only be heard yesterday instead of for the scheduled two days.

Judge Louis Muller dismissed with costs the application for a further postponement by Herman Oosthuizen, representing the CoD faction that walked out of the Keetmanshoop congress after the party's leadership elections.

The group, which walked out of the May 2007 congress, filed an urgent application to the High Court on August 24.

It requested the court to order CoD leader Ben Ulenga "on an urgent basis" to retract his decision to expel three CoD parliamentarians and to comply with an agreement, co-signed by Ulenga, to declare the leadership elections held at Keetmanshoop null and void.

The group, including MPs Elma Dienda, Nora-Schimming Chase and the late Kala Gertze, said in their court application that they had enough evidence to prove the party elections were fraudulent.

Because of the constraints, Oosthuizen concentrated his arguments yesterday on the main point of the original court application by the group.

Theo Nel, who flew in from South Africa to represent the Ulenga group, argued that the election process had no flaws and consequent results were binding.

"The two factions should have never signed that agreement (for an audit panel) and the findings of the audit panel was not binding and the panel did not scrutinise evidence like video recordings of the election process," Nel argued.

Last year, Ulenga publicly declared a day after the Keetmanshoop fall-out that he and his team of leaders would resign should the allegations of fraud be true.

Both factions agreed to let an independent audit panel investigate the Keetmanshoop elections.

They also agreed in writing to abide by the findings of the panel, chaired by Clement Daniels.

In July, the panel found fraud and irregularities in the elections, declared the Keetmanshoop results "null and void" and called for a new congress to elect CoD leaders within three months.

The two factions were expected to select three members each to form an interim committee to prepare for the congress.

On the day the six members were to be announced and the committee formed, Ulenga, his national chairman Tsudao Gurirab and his secretary general Rosa Namises, all controversially elected, pulled out of this process.

"We were legitimately elected and the interim committee, which will have non-elected people serving on it, would conduct party activities which we cannot allow to happen," Ulenga declared.

A few days later, he said he had expelled Ignatius Shixwameni, who has since left CoD and formed his own party, Schimming-Chase, Gertze and Dienda, as well as Herbert Schultz, a Windhoek City Councillor, Moses Katjiuongua, Pauline Dempers and many of those who had walked out at Keetmanshoop.

The Shixwameni group then instructed a lawyer to file an urgent application in the High Court in September, asking to reinstate them as party members, keep their status as MPs and town councillor and to force the Ulenga faction to stick to the June agreement, so that a new congress could be held before the end of the year.

Judge Louis Muller ruled then that those in Parliament and in the Windhoek Town Council should remain in those positions.