Jailed Eendrag farm owner David Strauss van der Linden faces possible additional charges to cannabis dealing after an escalated probe discovered that cattle disappeared from a government-contracted feedlot he ran on the farm.
Van der Linden had a government contract to breed the cattle before his arrest for running an illegal cannabis plantation earlier this year.
The contract with government entity Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) came under scrutiny after the disappearance of 400 beasts; it has since come to light that the actual number of cattle unaccounted for is more than double the figure initially given and investigators are now probing how 900 cattle went missing.
Charges have been laid with police at Hochfield and Gobabis. Eendrag farm is in the Hochfeld jurisdiction.
A Meatco executive has confirmed that charges were due to be filed sometime this month in connection with irregularities in the management of cattle at one of its contracted feedlots. However, Van der Linden is not the primary focus at this stage in a preliminary finding that has so far fingered former Meatco Acting CEO Patrick Liebenberg and other unnamed Meatco staffers. Liebenberg has already been charged and was suspended on 15 July 2025 but as of 20 October 2025 still appeared on the company website as part of Meatco executive management.
Van der Linden has been in custody since May when police raided the farm and seized a record N$52-million ($N1 = 1 ZAR) in cannabis and sealed the property. The farm was placed under round-the-clock security surveillance.
He and three former employees have been denied bail following their appearance in the Okahandja Magistrates Court in northern Namibia amid protests by anti-cannabis demonstrators. He is being represented by leading Namibian advocate Evert Gouws; Cannabiz Africa has tried to no avail to find out from Gouw’s legal secretary when his client’s next court appearance is.
As well as Van der Linden (43), the other Eendrag farm suspects are South African farm manager Armand Carel Schultz (29), farm driver Johannes Kamati (61) and Jakob Ganai, arrested close to the farm with a large cannabis consignment that ultimately led to the discovery of a 1,55-hectare plantation.
It is believed Van der Linden switched to growing cannabis on the farm in December last year after the cattle venture proved unviable. However, Namibia prohibits all forms of cannabis use and possession and the drug cannot be legally grown either, in terms of the Abuse of Dependence-Producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centres Act 41 of 1971 (RSA), a colonial-era statute that is a target for repeal campaigns by pro-cannabis activists.
The four men have been taunted by local anti-cannabis demonstrators at their court appearances, prompting Namibia’s leading pro-cannabis body Ganja Users of Namibia (GUN) to intervene.
GUN put out a media release on 30 July to alert the public to the right to bail for all suspects in terms of Section 60 of the Criminal Procedures Act. “We acknowledge the concerns of the community but firmly reject the fear-mongering tactics and misinformation that misrepresent cannabis as a dangerous threat,” GUN said in the statement signed by President Brian Jaftha and Secretary General Borro Ndungula.
The GUN statement singled out traditional leader and activist Johannes Gaseb for stoking the protests; Gaseb has characterised cannabis as a societal evil, an assertion GUN has countered with citation of research and data that among others show no causal link between cannabis use and committing a crime.
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