Blog

THE fight for the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) throne takes a new twist this weekend, as another faction meets to elect a paramount chief.

The group aligned to the acting paramount chief of the OTA, Vipuira Kapuuo, are gathered at Otjimbingwe in the Erongo region to elect a paramount chief.

A chief council that comprised 480 members is expected to deliberate and elect a new leader of the Ovaherero people, under the stewardship of the OTA.

Prominent opposition politicians McHenry Venaani of the Popular Democratic Movement and Mike Kavekotora of the Rally for Democracy and Progress are vying for the contentious throne.

Also in the race for the position of the paramount chief is the academic, Hoze Riruako.

Mutjinde Katjiua has already laid claim to the throne, following his installation last year by another Ovaherero chiefs council.

The Kapuuo faction insists that the process that led to Katjiua’s designation did not follow tradition.

“What happened is that we had differences from the beginning about the process that was followed, that led to the designation of Katjiua, as paramount chief.

So, that’s why chief Kapuuo went to court,” said Uazuva Kaumbi, spokesperson for the Kapuuo faction.

Speaking on Desert Radio yesterday, Kaumbi said they cannot wait for the court case, due to the political vacuum in the OTA leadership after the death of the late chief Vekuii Rukoro in June 2021.

“Meanwhile, we can proceed and use the processes that we think are the correct ones in order to designate what we think is the rightful paramount chief,” Kaumbi said.

UNLAWFUL

Katjiua’s team has branded the Otjimbingwe gathering as “unlawful” and contrary to the norms and customs of the OTA.

Katjiua, through his lawyers, Kamuhanga Hoveka Samuel Inc, has written to Kapuuo’s lawyers, PD Theron and Associates, to instruct their client to stop the election.

“…your client’s ill-advised actions, in calling the Ovaherero traditional community to partake in the purported elections are contrary to the norms and customs of the OTA. This conduct demonstrates contempt for the authority of the High Court of Namibia.

“Your client made an election to approach the High Court of Namibia, to hear and adjudicate this matter, and is now bound by that election.

“Should it become apparent that your client was merely using the review application to distract the respondents, while he runs around unlawfully exercising the very same powers he is asking the court to clothe him with, we will inform the court of this abuse of process,” Kamuhanga Hoveka Samuel Inc wrote on Wednesday.

“We are, therefore, instructed to persist in our demand that your client immediately cease and desist from involving himself, in the organisation, overseeing and or in conducting the above mentioned unlawful elections.”

Meanwhile, Kaumbi stressed that Katjiua’s faction has no reason to try to derail the Otjimbingwe gathering. “They have their opportunity to designate their paramount chief, which they did to professor Katjiua.

We are now designating our paramount chief. And as far as we are concerned, there is no reason for them to come and disturb or do whatever it is that they might be contemplating,” he said.

In an earlier interview with The Namibian, Katjiua maintained that his designation was done properly and according to the OTA customs.

ANCESTORS’ INTERVENTION

National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) secretary general Joseph Kauandenge has called for ancestral intervention. “So, yes, we are aware that there is going to be elections this weekend at Otjimbbingwe.

We are following it with keen interest,” he said earlier this week. “But from my point of view, I am praying that our ancestors will intervene from their graves and bring these warring factions together.”