An overview of 2025 in the courts

AN overview of some significant cases and judgements in Namibia’s courts during 2025:

28 February – The Supreme Court dismisses an application by Independent Patriots for Change leader Panduleni Itula and Landless People’s Movement leader Bernadus Swartbooi to have Namibia’s 2024 presidential election declared invalid and have a fresh presidential election held.

27 March – Affirmative Repositioning leader Job Amupanda’s attempt to have Namibia’s veterinary cordon fence (redline) declared unlawful and unconstitutional fails in the Windhoek High Court, with judge Shafimana Ueitele finding that Amupanda has not placed evidence before the court on which the orders he applied for could be granted.

30 May – A farm purchase and lease scheme through which Russian billionaire Rashid Sardarov gained control of more than 17 000 hectares of Namibian farmland for 99 years withstands a legal challenge in the Windhoek High Court. The scheme remains in place after judge Orben Sibeya dismisses an application by the Popular Democratic Movement to set aside the lease of four government-owned farms to a company of Sardarov.

8 August – The trial of Lolo Kambwela (32), convicted of murdering his girlfriend, Nghimushima Haufiku (19), at Otjiwarongo on 13 February 2022 by stabbing her 51 times with a knife, ends with judge Claudia Claasen sentencing Kambwela to 33 years’ imprisonment.

12 August – Judge Naomi Shivute sentences Omaheke region resident Abel Mokalabatho (29) in the Windhoek High Court to an effective prison term of 37 and a half years, after convicting him of kidnapping, raping and murdering a woman, Anna Geinamses (27), at Drimiopsis in the Gobabis district at the start of August 2020.

8 September – With the Fishrot fraud, corruption and racketeering trial stalled after plea proceedings, acting judge Marilize du Plessis delivers a ruling in the High Court at Windhoek Correctional Facility in which she dismisses most of an application by former attorney general and justice minister Sacky Shanghala and two co-accused, James Hatuikulipi and Pius Mwatelulo, for the state to be ordered to disclose further documentation to them, in addition to the contents of the case docket already disclosed to them.

22 September – The rape of a nine-year-old girl near Windhoek in October 2018 was “heinous, barbaric, and the grossest and most unimaginable form of brutality on any person”, judge Dinnah Usiku comments before sentencing the rapist, Gavin Gawanab (31), to an effective prison term of 57 years for that crime, two other rapes and 10 other offences.

28 October – Magistrate Olga Muharukua grants bail in an amount of N$200 000 to one of the accused in the Namcor fraud and corruption case, former Namcor manager Cedric Willemse (52), after a bail hearing in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court.

18 November – Windhoek High Court judge Beatrix de Jager and two other judges decide not to join the Federal Republic of Germany as a respondent in a case in which the High Court is being asked to declare the 2021 joint declaration of Germany and Namibia on the 1904-08 Ovaherero and Nama genocide as unlawful. The court also turns down an application to allow Namibian court documents in the matter to be served on Germany in Germany, which is outside the court’s jurisdiction.

21 November – The Supreme Court’s acting judge of appeal, Dave Smuts, and appeal judge Hosea Angula rule that the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority has to pay investors who were swindled out of tens of millions of Namibia dollars invested after the end of August 2005 with the company Prowealth Asset Managers, which collapsed with the suicide of its founder near the end of 2008.

21 November – Judge Philanda Christiaan sentences former police officer Lucia Boois (37) in the Windhoek High Court to 23 years’ imprisonment on a charge of murder. Boois was convicted of murdering her one-year-old son, Amare Boois, by stabbing him to death at a farm in the Bethanie area on 12 January 2023.

2 December – In the Windhoek High Court, judge Claudia Claasen sentences Khorixas resident Arnold Khamseb (50) to life imprisonment on a charge of murder and a 27-year jail term on a charge of housebreaking and rape. Khamseb, who was also convicted of rape in 2000, was found guilty of raping a 20-year-old woman at Khorixas in July 2018, and of murdering his former romantic partner Sylvia Gorases (46) by stabbing her with a knife in her house at Khorixas on 24 December 2019.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.