Bondelswarts offices shut, services in limbo

Bondelswarts Traditional Authority offices at Gibeon and Warmbad have been closed for over two years, delaying communal land services and affecting residents’ livelihoods.

Gibeon resident Aloe Berendt says aspiring farmers submitted applications for communal land rights between 2021 and 2023, but many are still waiting for approval from the traditional authority before they can be sent to the Hardap Communal Land Board for ratification and certification.

“The Bondelswarts Traditional Authority leaders lock the admin offices, denying people of their livelihoods as they are not rendering services. But the same councillors are getting allowances for not doing anything, it’s not fair,” Berendt says.

The Ministry of Urban And Rural Development and Hardap governor Riaan McNab have not responded to questions sent two weeks ago.

Susanna Skeyer, a community member from Warmbad, says residents now have to travel 60 kilometres to Karasburg to obtain communal land rights certification because the Warmbad office has been closed for more than eight years.

She says the closure has affected her plans to start small livestock farming after delays in finalising her communal land rights allocation application.

“This office was closed while Queen Katrina Christians was still alive but unwell, which started a chieftainship succession race between her son, Jan Christians, and his uncle, Josef Christians. Josef was eventually appointed acting chief.

“Since he was not favoured by the royal house, he could not use the Warmbad office and he opened an office in Karasburg. But it is not conducive for community members who do not have cars to always travel to Karasburg,” Skeyer says.

Senior councillor Hans Jossob from the Karaburg office has confirmed the closure of the Warmbad office and the opening of an office at Karasburg.

“We are not sitting at home and failing to render services to our people. We are functioning, processing applications and fulfilling our mandate because people have known for years that the Bondelswarts Traditional Authority office is at Karasburg,” Jossob says.

He says a court case challenging the inauguration of chief Denzyl Christians, who was inaugurated on 25 October 2025, has deepened divisions and affected development programmes.

The royal house has challenged the inauguration and asked the court to pronounce itself on the legality of the procedures followed in inaugurating Christians.

“This division has brought community development initiatives to a standstill. We are just handling day-to-day administration,” the councillor says.

Senior councillor at Gibeon Lukas Swartbooi says the office has been closed due to the absence of an administrative officer.

He says the authority cannot afford to employ an administrator and also lacks quorum, as two councillors are respondents in the High Court case challenging Christians’ inauguration.

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