14-year Bondelswarts dispute deepens as funds vanish

Hertta-Maria Amutenja

The Bondelswarts Heritage Foundation has called for an urgent investigation into the Bondelswarts Chief Council, citing financial irregularities, a disputed leadership, and the neglect of key communal assets in Warmbad.

The Foundation said in a recent statement that internal leadership disputes have paralysed the community since the death of Captain Anna Katriena Christiaan in 2011. 

“The continued secrecy, disputes, and neglect cannot be tolerated any longer,” said Foundation founder Mathew Veldskoen.

The Foundation alleges that the Chief Council, led by Senior Traditional Councillor Hans Jossob, operates without transparency and excludes the Christiaan Royal House from community decisions. 

It further claims the Council receives N$100 000 annually from a trust. 

“The community has no knowledge of this trust’s purpose, administration, or beneficiaries,” the statement said.

The group also questioned the use of N$771 000 reportedly spent on drilling boreholes. 

“There is no evidence of where these boreholes were drilled, no documentation, and no disclosure of the accounts into which these funds were paid,” it stated.

Documents seen by the Windhoek Observer show that the Namibia Traditional Authorities Trust (NTAT) allocated N$930 000 to the Bondelswarts Traditional Authority between 2021 and 2025. 

This included a once-off Covid-19 relief payment of N$230 000. 

In a letter dated 4 February 2025, NTAT confirmed the available balance for future project funding stood at zero after N$820 640 had been spent. 

Senior traditional councillors said they were unaware of this expenditure.

A separate letter dated 4 April 2025 from the Chief Council to NTAT raised concerns over administrative errors and unauthorised project spending. 

“Designated, recognised and gazetted traditional councillors are not aware of such projects and expenditures,” the council wrote.

The conflict stretches beyond finances. In a letter dated 9 April 2025 to President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, councillor Dominicus Snewe accused former ||Karas regional governor Alletha Fredericks of failing to verify and forward “Form A” documents to formalise the Christiaan Royal House’s candidate, Nathaniel Christiaan, as chief.

The Christiaan Royal House nominated Nathaniel, the eldest son of the late captain Christiaan, shortly after her death in September 2011. 

No action has been taken by the governor’s office for over a decade. 

In October 2024, Jossob’s faction organised the coronation of Denzyl Isaacks as chief, despite no ministerial approval as required under the traditional authorities act. 

The Chief Council claims Isaacks changed his surname to Christiaan to meet the eligibility requirements. 

“The process was not compliant with Sections 4, 5, and 7 of the Act,” the letter to Nandi-Ndaitwah noted.

Payment records show NTAT paid N$2 700 to the Bondelswarts Traditional Authority and N$2 112 to Jossob in February 2025. 

“The Chief Council functions without basic administrative support, and the location of Warmbad, the historic capital, is being sidelined,” the Foundation said.

The leadership crisis began after the passing of Captain Anna Katriena Christiaan, the last formally gazetted Chief. 

Since then, the succession dispute has centred on two candidates: Nathaniel Christiaan and Denzyl Isaacks. 

At the time of Captain Christiaan’s death, Isaacks was 15 years old and considered too young for leadership. 

Government officials, including former urban and rural development minister Sophia Shaningwa, advised the community to wait until he turned 25. 

Isaacks reached this age in August 2024, and the traditional authority informed the governor’s office of plans to coronate him. 

They submitted the required application, but the ministry of urban and rural development reportedly never received it, delaying the process.

The Bondelswarts follow a patrilineal lineage system rooted in ancestral traditions. 

The Foundation is now demanding full audits of the trust income and borehole expenditure, and an immediate halt to all unauthorised financial activity.

Efforts to reach Councillor Dominicus Snewe and the NTAT for comment were unsuccessful at the time of publication. 

The Bondelswarts Traditional Authority remains without a formally designated and gazetted Chief, 14 years after the death of captain Anna Katriena Christiaan.

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