Pastor, accomplice fined N$30 000 for witchcraft allegations

Well-known pastor Shalongo Haimbodi and a member of his church will have to fork out N$30 000 for labelling two people "witches", the High Court has ruled.The plaintiffs, Aloisa Shingundi Nehoya and Veronika Venokatiti Ngitkwa, filed a claim against Haimbodi and Asteria Alweendo for making defamatory statements on Facebook, accusing them of being witches.Haimbodi, who is a pastor at Believers Christian Church and Bible Study located at Onheleiwa village in Omusati Region’s Etayi constituency, and Alweendo, failed to defend themselves in court.Harmful allegations The court determined that the statements were defamatory and made with the intention to harm the plaintiffs.As a result, the court awarded each plaintiff N$15 000 in damages, to be paid jointly and severally by the defendants.Additionally, the court ordered the defendants to pay interest at a rate of 20 percent per year from the date of judgment until the final payment, along with the costs of the lawsuit.Damaging wordsAccording to the plaintiffs, who were represented by Henry Shimutwikeni, they approached the High Court after Haimbodi and Alweendo authored and featured audio and video recordings that were wildly published and circulated and that contained false, defamatory statements, suggestions, innuendos and insinuations about and concerning the plaintiffs.The statements were made in Oshiwambo.The recordings took the form of an interview between Haimbodi and Alweendo.Two recordings were published on 31 August 2021 on Haimbodi’s Facebook page.The plaintiffs addressed a letter of demand to the defendants on 27 October 2021 demanding an apology and payment of damages.Their demand letter appeared to have been ignored, as Haimbodi posted three more videos on the same page.Spreading lies According to the transcription of the videos, it was alleged that Nehoya was speaking from inside the body of Alweendo. Furthermore, it was alleged that Nehoya was practicing witchcraft on Alweendo at the behest of Ngitkwa.They also claimed that Nehoya trained her two minor children in witchcraft; she allegedly bewitched her husband; she was responsible for miscarriages of pregnancies experienced by women from the church, she uses charms to lure customers at Onhimbu Open Market, where she operates; and that she was a member of the Illuminati, an association of witches and wizards.Similar allegations were made with respect to Ngitkwa.The plaintiffs said that based on these allegations, they were shunned by the community and unable to attend cultural and social events because they were branded as witches.They further alleged that they suffered psychological harm and that their children were seriously distressed as a result of social exclusion at school.kenya@namibiansun.com

Pastor, accomplice fined N$30 000 for witchcraft allegations

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-11

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Pastor, accomplice fined N$30 000 for witchcraft allegations

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Namibian Sun 2026-09-11

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