Dispute over missing Tassies and sugar for cattle

On Wednesday the Okalongo community court of the Ombandja Traditional Authority heard a case of two pensioner brothers who are in dispute over a cattle deal that went sour in Angola in 1993.
Community courts were introduced last year in Namibia as an immediate solution to the exorbitant legal costs of adjudicating matters in the mainstream Namibian courts administering customary and common law.
Willem Shikongo, who is in his 80s, told the court that in November 1993 when he retired from Namdeb, he was taken by his brother Lukas Halweedo also in his 80s now, to trade liquor and sugar for cattle in southern Angola. He said his brother then betrayed him and he never received any animals to date.
“My brother was a trader who used to do trade in southern Angola and he always returned with livestock that he sells in Namibia. When I retired, he approached me that he would help me buy cattle in Angola. He told me that ten head of cattle cost 80 crates of Tassenberg and ten pack of 10kg brown sugar. I bought those items and we went into Angola. We left those items in Angola with his trading partners to trade for him. He later went back after some months, and upon his return he told me that all the items were tradeed-in for my cattle, but he never agreed on a day for us to go get those items to this day,” Shikongo told the court.
Halweedo told the court that it is true he went with his brother to Angola for cattle trading, but said the deal went sour when he was arrested by Angolan authorities. Therefore, he defended himself saying that he knew about his brother’s crates of Tassenberg and brown sugar they took to Angola, but he know nothing about cattle. “After I was arrested I never went back to Angola. I have no idea what happened to his items. Even Shikongo knows that I never went back to Angola,” Halweedo told the court.
A panel of five judges and three assistant judges presided over by Chief of traditional authority, Mathias Walaula, cross-examined the two brothers. They were advised to return to Angola with the assistance of Namibian police, so that they resolve the matter. “This is not the first time we are hearing about this matter. It was first brought to our attention in 1998. We failed to resolve it then and it was referred to the eight traditional authorities of northern Namibia and Namibian police, but they also failed. All the witnesses in the matter have also died which has made it more difficult for us. Since the complainant brought it back to the court, all we can do is to assist the two of you to back to Angola where you left those items to resolve your issue,” Walaula said.