A borderline case that never was…
Published: 21/Oct/2015
Source: Legal Brief
This was a case with enormous potential to embarrass both South Africa and Namibia whose mutual borders have never been properly finalised. But at the last minute the wealthy farmer who brought the application relented and a possible international dispute has been avoided, at least for now.
When Willem Agenbach, owner of the 10 000 ha farm Girtis, tried to evict two men from his property, he presumably had no idea that the case could explode into an international border dispute. But once the two men – part of a community of Nama people originally named ‘Bondelswarts’ by white settlers – found legal help of their own, the implications of the matters became clear.
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