Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - 'Mr 4x4' murdered in Namibia

Source ; News24.com

Cape Town - Rassie Joubert was still talking about the search in Namibia for his missing brother when he received the devastating news - the blood-stained body of the 4X4 fundi and enthusiast from the Strand was found in Namibia.

The discovery of the body of Jan Joubert, 59, brought an end to a search for him after he had disappeared two days ago.

Members of the special task force of the Namibian police - known as Tracks4Africa, a group of outdoor life enthusiasts that share information on their travels, members of the Gobabis community and friends, assisted in the search.

Wednesday morning Joubert sent an e-mail to several people, including his wife.

It read: "Hello from the bush! I referred the Gobabis information people to you and they will contact you, a Johan Rossouw. Take note of my new e-mail address. The satmodem performs very well but it is rather difficult at night with the camping chores. So I do my post in the mornings. Regards. Jan."

A heart-broken Charlotte Joubert said on Friday afternoon that was the last time she'd heard from her husband.

Post-mortem to be conducted

He was at Steenboklaagte, a hamlet near the town of Tallismanis.

Inspector Petrus Swartz, spokesperson for the Gobabis police, confirmed Joubert's death about 15:30 on Friday.

"His body was found at the place in the veld near Gobabis - where he had made his last contact.

A post-mortem will be conducted to establish the cause of death.

Wouter Brand of Tracks4Africa said it was ironic that Joubert's life was ended in such a gruesome manner on the soil that he loved so much and that he'd been willing to give his life for.

Jakes Taljaard, owner of the Gass security company at Gobabis, said he'd contacted Mrs Joubert after her husband's stripped vehicle had been found.

An employee found the vehicle in the bush about half a kilometre from the Epaku residential area.

A receipt with Joubert's home telephone number was found in the vehicle.

Taljaard then phoned Joubert's wife.

She told him that her husband had been working on a project on the Dorsland trek route.

A Pretoria GPS company, Georigin, contracted Joubert to map global positioning points on the Dorsland trek route to enable tourists to travel safely through the region.

According to John Dann, director of Georigin, the last coordinates received from Joubert were those at Steenboklaagte.

"He was on his way to the Epikuro riverbed from where he'd have moved in the direction of Tsumkwe."

Well respected

Dann said Joubert was a careful person.

"He always made sure that his means of communication was operational and that nothing could go wrong."

For Andrew Nunnely, publisher of Drive Out magazine, Joubert was "Mr 4X4".

"He was respected by everybody in the four wheel drive community because of his experience and passion for Nature."

Joubert is recognised for his manuals on 4X4 vehicles and eco-tourism that emanated from his pen.

"He also wrote many articles for travel publications and produced a number of documentary programmes," said Nunneley.

A family friend, Johan Marais, said many people were rallying to support the Joubert family.