By Eliaser Ndeyanale and Timo Shihepo | 4 August 2025
THE Namibian Police say more than 258 vehicles were stolen countrywide and smuggled into Angola in 2024. This fuels growing concerns about cross-border crime syndicates.
Targeted vehicles include Toyota sedans (mostly ‘Dankie Botswanas’), double cabs, station wagons and rented vehicles, some of which are believed to have crossed into neighbouring countries.
Out of 258 vehicles, 172 vehicles have been recovered, while 86 remain missing, according to the latest police statistics shared with The Namibian.
According to Interpol, Namibia is considered a regional transit country for stolen motor vehicles.
The Oshana region’s head of criminal investigations, deputy commissioner Frederick Ndjadila, says 77 vehicles worth N$2.2 million were stolen in the region in the last five years
Omusati police spokesperson senior inspector Anna Kunga says 14 vehicles worth N$217 000 were stolen from the region last year.
“Some were recovered in Angola, while others were found abandoned along the border line between Namibia and Angola,” Kunga says.
According to her, earlier this month two men, aged 33 and 39, were arrested for stealing a Toyota Hilux 2.2 at a wedding celebration at Omundjalala village.
The vehicle was recovered at Onelao village in the Omusati region.
VICTIMS
Four months ago, Paskalia Bedikesha’s dreams were stolen in the dead of night along with her white 2008 Toyota Corolla.
The car, which had become a vital source of income for the 31-year-old teacher and her family, vanished outside a home bar at Onawa village in the Omusati region in February.
“I bought it to ease the pressure on my finances. It was our hope as a family,” Bedikesha says.
She says she bought the car in October 2024 at Oshakati and converted it into a taxi. The Corolla brought in up to N$8 000 a month, she says.
But when heavy rains rendered the gravel road to their homestead impassable, Bedikesha’s brother, who was driving the taxi at the time, sought shelter in a room near a local shebeen.
On that night, the driver parked the vehicle right outside the door before going to bed, Bedikesha says. At around 02h00, he woke up to use the toilet.
The car was gone.
“He called me immediately,” Bedikesha recalls.
“We reported the theft to the police right away. They said they would set up roadblocks between Outapi and Okalongo, since that’s the usual route for stolen cars. But honestly, I don’t believe they ever did. For weeks, then months, there was no word from the police. No update. No lead,” she says.
“A car isn’t like a cellphone that you can just forget about,” she says.
“I worked hard for it. I fitted new tyres and fixed it for the road. When the police showed no urgency, that’s what truly broke me,” she says.
The loss plunged Bedikesha into depression. She was booked off from work and prescribed sleeping medication. In desperation, she turned to religious leaders and traditional healers, but none could help.
“They all said the car is somewhere around Outapi. But what am I supposed to do with that? Walk around the whole town by myself, looking in every corner?” she asks.
She says at the time she bought the car, she had registered to study at a local university, but had to put this on hold as her funds were not enough to pay her fees.
Another car theft victim, Rebeka Hangula from Ouhongo B in the Ohangwena region, says her Toyota 4×4 was stolen from her house in December 2022 at around 20h00. The now retired teacher says she was attacked by two unknown men during the incident.
“They had covered their faces. One of them had a panga and told me not to move. He then struck my face, and I fell to the ground. While I was on the ground, I saw the second gentleman reversing my car,” she says.
Hangula says the suspects almost ran her over with her car.
Almost three years later, Hangula’s car has still not been found.
“Some people told me the car was taken to Angola,” she says.
“A police reservist told me in 2022 he had seen my car in Angola and that he would bring it to me if I could give him N$3 000. He also told me the car crossed into Angola at a place called Onamunama, where the suspects allegedly filled the car’s tank with two containers of illegal fuel from Angola,” she says.
TIDE OF VEHICLE THEFT
According to Namibian Police senior inspector Hilma Hamutenya, 23 vehicles were reported stolen in Omusati between January and December 2024. Of these, 14 were recovered. Nine remain missing.
Hamutenya says the Ohangwena region recorded 26 vehicles stolen in 2024. A total of 21 are still unaccounted for. The Oshana region recorded 25 thefts, with only three recovered.
In the Khomas region, the number spikes to 153 reported thefts, with 46 vehicles still missing.
Lower figures were recorded elsewhere: the Otjozondjupa region saw five vehicle theft cases (with four recovered), the Erongo region saw five (with two recovered), and the Omaheke region two (both recovered).
CROSS-BORDER SYNDICATES
Several stolen vehicles have been tracked to countries like Angola and Zambia.
In August last year, four vehicles stolen from Namibia were recovered in Angola and repatriated.
Three of these had been stolen in the Oshana region, and one in the Ohangwena region.
Last week, the police said it had recovered a white Toyota Corolla abandoned at Omungwelume in the Ohangwena region. It had been stolen the previous night from Oshikango at Oshakati.
In a separate case, South African national Chante Coetzee (38) was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Katima Mulilo Regional Court after she stole a rented Toyota GD-6 pickup from Kuomboka Car Hire in the Zambezi region.
She crossed into Zambia through ungazetted points and sold the vehicle in Lusaka before being extradited to Namibia.
The police say syndicates involving both Namibian and foreign nationals are exploiting border loopholes to traffic stolen vehicles out of the country.
Last year, officials from Namibia and Angola met to discuss crime fighting strategies.
Angola’s national press agency, Angop, reported last year that “the most worrying crimes that occur on the border are related to the theft of vehicles and cattle and others on both sides, hence the need to strengthen joint operations in the area”.
