Stockley Mbaruu Kauojao, Afas Kamutjemo, Mathew Kakururume and Muvare Kaporo in the dock at the Windhoek High Court

When he went missing late in December 2012, those who used to know him instantly knew that something had gone seriously wrong for him to be out of reach. Majora Wilfred Hiambepo Kazeurua was not one to go for days without being in touch with his people.

A community police officer who had answered the call to curb stock-theft in his community and successfully recovered stolen livestock with some of those recoveries deemed the stuff of legends, his reputation as the go to officer to recover stolen livestock was unrivaled.

He had been in Aminuis from 24 December 2012 and was seen in subsequent days. But the last day he was ever seen by relatives in Aminuis was 28 December 2012. All friends, relatives and the community in Aminuis knew at this stage that he was trekking 15 cattle stolen from Farm Rembrandt near Tsjaka in the Gobabis District. Search started late and lasted through New Year’s Day.

Where was Majora? None knew at this stage and anxiety built up as word spread even further and more Aminuis residents got to know about his having gone missing. That is how he wound up dead and the case of those charged with his murder moved from Gobabis to Windhoek. But eight years and now nine, is a long time waiting for justice.

All the accused persons on trial in relation to his murder and stock theft had pleaded not guilty to several offenses including murder, stock theft and arson at the close of investigations and the start of their trial.

What followed their please has been a long trial. That trial returned to the High Court on 6 April 2021, and again in May and August.

When the case returned to court at the start of August 2021, Judge Alfred Siboleka sympathised with late Majora Kazeurua’s family and fixed the start of the defence case, when the accused persons will challenge the allegations against them and choose whether to testify in their defence, for the four-days starting on 11 October 2021.

Whole noting that the postponement was due to Kauojao isolating after being in contact with a person, who had contracted COVID-19, he clearly warned all parties against further delays. Judge Siboleka wanted to bring the 9-year old case (now 10) to the end. Stockley Kauojao had lawyerTrevor Brockerhof as his latest lawyer then and briefly Ileni Velikoshi by October 2021, who withdrew soon after noting his appearance for the accused person.

Siboleka warned as early as August 2021 that there will be no further postponements in the case. In October, he cancelled Kauojao’s N$ 15 000 bail and postponed the trial for defence case to 11-14 April 2022 and 20-22 April 2022.

Kazeurua was the last born of Mbonge Kazeurua , a descendant of the Kandjai family and Eginie Kaze- urua from the Kambaraa family.

“He was just brave…it was something within him and it did not come from how he was brought up,”

Brother Collin Kazeurua, January 2013

Mbonge and Eginie children’s are Kanongo Petrus Kazeurua, Teckla Koukune Tjiho, Collin Muindia Kazeurua and the deceased.

Majora distinguished himself as a passionate live- stock lover and spent a short time tending to his parents’ livestock after dropping out of school with Standard 6 and being conscripted into the South African Defence Force.

“We were born Christians and did not live against our values,” his brother Collin notes.
Majora Kazeurua is remembered by his community for returning the elderly, and the meek their stolen cattle. His ability to follow the trail of stolen live- stock may only be rivalled by San hunters. People in Aminuis often relate one story of his tracking a truck-load of stolen cattle to an abattoir in South Africa, where he arrived at dawn as the cattle were to be slaughtered.

“He was a farmer and in his own manner, did not want anything to befall livestock. That is why he dedicated himself to protecting them,” says his brother Collin.

That devotion to livestock cost him his life. But he died as he lived. His best friends Karimonoka Kahi- pura said one thing about Kazeurua. “He never broke down emotionally as a soldier…I never saw him do.”