Inside the troubled Ovaherero palace

MATHIAS HAUFIKU Kapuuo’s alleged transgressions: · Pushing for Kerina to be buried at sacred shrine · Costing OTA N$90 000 in legal fees · Convening illegal chiefs council meeting · Appointing himself as acting paramount chief · Bringing the name of OTA into disrepute WINDHOEKA damning report by the Ovaherero Traditional Authority’s (OTA) transitional committee - which took control of the OTA following the death of paramount chief Vekuii Rukoro - could spell the end of chiefs council chairperson Vipuira Kapuuo’s involvement in OTA affairs.Dated 11 and 12 December and seen by the Namibian Sun, the report contains an avalanche of transgressions purportedly committed by Kapuuo following Rukoro’s death in June.The report was presented to the OTA leadership at a controversial chiefs council meeting held at Onderombapa in the Aminius constituency last weekend. Kapuuo boycotted the meeting as he felt it was not legally constituted.This week, he was warned not to act on behalf of the OTA in any manner.Chief amongst the charges is Kapuuo’s alleged move to appoint himself as the acting paramount chief, even after a June transitional committee meeting rejected his planned interim ascension to the position.Then OTA secretary Professor Mutjinde Katjiua, who has since been nominated as paramount chief designate, said in a letter dated 1 July that 23 of the 28 senior traditional councillors of the OTA rejected the move.Kapuuo is also accused of working in cahoots with family members of the late Mburumba Kerina in a bid to push for Kerina’s burial at the sacred Ovaherero shrine in Okahandja, which is earmarked for paramount chiefs.He allegedly insisted that Kerina be buried at the shrine despite the chief council opposing the request, with 25 of the 28 OTA ‘Ozombara’ voting ‘nay’.Exclusive accessAccording to the 41-page report, had the OTA allowed Kerina to be buried at the shrine, it would have set a precedent that would see “any person claiming to have worked with a paramount chief… demanding to be buried at the shrine”.“OTA would have lost its exclusive access and user right to the shrine and past squabbles about commemorations at burial sites in Okahandja would have commenced again,” the report noted.The committee also revealed that it is “aware of prominent politicians who want to be buried at the shrine as opposed to at the national Heroes Acre in Windhoek”. Kapuuo disregarded the chiefs council decision to preserve the sanctity of the burial shrine, it said.He is also accused of exposing the OTA to financial losses in excess of N$90 000 after the transitional committee lodged a court case seeking an order to block Kerina’s burial at the shrine.The High Court ruled that the committee is the only legal entity with powers to act as or behalf of Ombara Otjitambi and that the shrine should be reserved for Ozombara Ovitambi.Kapuuo reprimandedFollowing the submission of the transitional committee’s report at last weekend’s meeting, it was resolved that Katjiua should write a letter to Kapuuo expressing the chiefs council’s lack of confidence in him as well as to direct him to cease and desist from acting in on behalf of the OTA other than on matters pertaining to Ovitoto, for which he is a chief.These resolutions were made public on Wednesday in a press release issued by OTA’s newly-appointed secretary general Nandigisua Mazeingo.The meeting, according to Mazeingo, also decided to appoint chief Boas Tjingaete as the acting paramount chief until the position is filled by the OTA Senate and assumption of office is completed.‘I am still in charge’Through his lawyers, PD Theron Associates, Kapuuo on Wednesday maintained that he is the acting paramount chief “until the Senate of OTA designates a new paramount chief after debate at a properly constituted Senate meeting”.He said last weekend’s meeting was attended by delegates who are not members of the chiefs council and that there was no quorum reached.“The appointment of acting paramount chief Boas Tjingaete is therefore irregular, null and void. Those present at the irregular meeting represent a small minority that clearly do not speak to the wishes of the greater majority of the OTA,” Kapuuo’s legal team said.Political gamesMeanwhile, Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) president Mike Kavekotora, in a press statement issued yesterday, said there are suspicions that Katjiua’s appointment was a political move.Regarding the process that led to the appointment, he said: “Somebody has been steering a process leading to his own designation. This smells like another looming division”.“If that is in fact the case, I want to call on those pursuing such an agenda to leave politics to us as politicians. I call upon political parties not to abuse our traditional leadership to advance their political agenda and as a consequence divide our people,” the opposition lawmaker said.He further called on the organisers of the disputed Onderombapa meeting “to stop for a moment and reflect on the negative effect such a move will have on the unity of the OTA and Ovaherero communities”.

Inside the troubled Ovaherero palace

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-15

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Inside the troubled Ovaherero palace

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-15

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