Boois files complaint against Katrina

Former Hardap chief regional officer Yvonne Boois last week filed eight charges of fraud and corruption with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against the minister of education, arts and culture, Katrina Hanse-Himarwa. Boois filed the complaints on 26 September, days after she had threatened to do so at a press briefing conducted at her home in Windhoek. The deputy director-general of the ACC, Erna van der Merwe, yesterday said the new charges would be added to another similar complaint Boois had previously registered. Boois said she had submitted a copy of the charges against Hanse-Himarwa to the ombudsman “to keep an eye on it” in case the ACC decided not to investigate. The charges against her former close ally and apparent benefactor are serious. Boois claims that between 2011 and 2012 Hanse-Himarwa, then the governor of the Hardap Region, misused her office by misappropriating funds and resources of the Hardap Regional Development Trust Fund (HRDTF). The HRDTF was established in 2011 by former President Sam Nujoma with the purpose to “provide a basis from which assistance and support will be given to the public interest free of charge where necessary to any person, persons or organisations requiring such assistance or supporting and aiding such development may be taken for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Hardap Region”. Boois alleges that N$300 000 was withdrawn from the bank account of the HRDTF without the authorisation of the regional council to buy shares in a company called the Hardap Feedlot in which Hanse-Himarwa allegedly has shares. She claims no share certificate or proof of payment was issued. The second charge is that Hanse-Himarwa allegedly single-handedly managed Farm Daweb, which is in the Maltahöhe area, which was donated to the Hardap regional council by allowing “advantaged” Namibians to occupy the farm. Hanse-Himarwa is also accused of having influenced a tender award to HIPET Construction, which is owned by her husband, Andreas 'Ghenno' Himarwa. Boois claims she was harassed by Himarwa to make a payment without a payment certificate, which she says she refused to do. She says the money was later paid out illegally and without her approval as the CRO. “Ever since the day I said no to the request to make the unauthorised payment to HIPET Construction in 2012, things changed and turned from bad to worse,” Boois alleges. She says Hanse-Himarwa then “shamelessly robbed” her of another five-year stint as CRO after councillors resolved to extend her contract. Hanse-Himarwa is further accused of having pushed elderly Magdalena !Gaoses off a resettlement farm, which she then allocated to a family member, Erica Mungunda-//Khaibeb. Another charge is that Hanse-Himarwa allegedly gave “bogus titles” to permanent secretaries so that they could join her on a trip to Algeria, which cost the regional council N$30 000 that was not paid back to the line ministry. Hanse-Himarwa is further said to have misused the powers of her office when she appointed Boois as CRO. Hanse-Himarwa in August 2016 admitted to have 'favoured' the Boois family “to become inhabitants of Hardap by employing [Boois] even though she came out fourth in the interview because she is a woman”. Boois claims Hanse-Himarwa has never handed over funds collected from embassies for a 'backyard garden' initiative when she left the office of governor. She said the former governor also unduly influenced Hardap councillors to reinstate a contractor on a botched sewerage tender in Hoachanas. Hanse-Himarwa was not available for comment before going to press. CATHERINE SASMAN

Boois files complaint against Katrina

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Namibian Sun 2026-05-11

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Boois files complaint against Katrina

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Namibian Sun 2026-05-11

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