NDF defies court order

Four days after the Namibian Defence Force was ordered to vacate a Rehoboth shooting range it had illegally occupied in December, the army's locks remain on the gate. Lawyer Norman Tjombe, acting on behalf of the Rehoboth Shooters Club, yesterday confirmed that the NDF had not yet unlocked the gates to the club in terms of Monday's High Court order. He said steps to involve the sheriff of the court would be taken later yesterday.“They are ignoring the court order,” a member of the shooting club confirmed yesterday. He said it was unclear why the lock had not yet been removed by the NDF. Government attorney Ngatatue Kandovazu insisted that the court order had been complied with. Defence minister Penda Ya Ndakolo told Namibian Sun yesterday morning that he was unaware of the NDF ignoring the court order. “It's news to me. I was out of the office, maybe they will brief me. I cannot comment now, I don't have any information,” he said. On Monday, acting judge Claudia Claasen ordered the minister of defence, the Namibia Defence Force (NDF) and the town council of Rehoboth to restore possession and occupation to the Rehoboth Shooters Club. An official at the Rehoboth town council told Namibian Sun that the council was not responsible for carrying out the court order, so he could not comment on the matter. Namibian Sun last week reported that members of the shooting club had turned to the High Court to obtain an interdict against the illegal military take-over of the club's private shooting range in mid-December. On 18 December, the military arrived, erecting a hand-written notice barring any person from entering the site and declaring it a “military area”. On Monday, the court endorsed a settlement agreement reached between the applicants and respondents for the NDF to vacate the property. Claasen ordered the ministry and the NDF to pay the costs of the application. Claasen said the minister of defence and the NDF were “interdicted and restrained from unlawfully interfering with the Rehoboth Shooters Club's possession and occupation” of the area. PREVIOUSLY Nathalia /Goagoses, the representative of the urban and rural development minister tasked last year to head the interim Rehoboth town council, yesterday said she was still on leave and could not comment. “I want to really only pronounce myself on this when I have all the necessary facts in front of me, and that is my priority when I come back to the office,” she said. She added that in the meantime the court order must be obeyed. /Goagoses said the town council was the owner of the land in question and had the right to allocate it to the most suitable tenant. She knew of an application by the NDF last year to take over the shooting range, but the council never gave the go-ahead, she said. “They approached the council long before my time and they came in November or December to follow up on the application for that land. I could not at that stage pronounce myself, as I needed to investigate,” she said. /Goagoses said she had started investigating the shooting club's lease agreement before going on holiday. The investigation was delayed because the council's records were “in disarray” and the relevant documents could not be traced in time.

NDF defies court order

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Namibian Sun 2025-08-08

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NDF defies court order

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Namibian Sun 2025-08-08

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