Had you checked the change log?
Is your system an old system? Long ago SAP shipped a system with values in CAWNT see consulting note 34925
There was as well a time with an error when deleting a characteristic, the translations were not deleted in all cases: 671800 - Value description deleted in one language only
I would recommend to analyze the posting failure, plenty of discussions are available that explain it in detail, and then check the SAP Marketplace for OSS notes