THE head of the /Hai-/Khaua Traditional Authority at Berseba in the Karas Region was back in the High Court in Windhoek yesterday to attempt to stop the swearing-in of a second traditional leader for his divided community.
Chief Johannes Isaack is asking the court to confirm an interim interdict through which he and the /Hai-/Khaua Traditional Authority halted the planned inauguration of another Berseba resident, Johannes Fleermuys, as traditional leader of a rival traditional authority, the Goliath Traditional Authority, on April 21.Lawyers representing Isaack and the /Hai-/Khaua Traditional Authority on the one side, and Fleermuys on the other, argued their case before Judge Harald Geier yesterday. The judge reserved his judgement after hearing the arguments.Isaack is claiming that the only officially recognised traditional authority at Berseba is the one being led by him. The ‘so-called Goliath traditional community of Berseba does not exist,’ he is claiming in an affidavit filed with the court.The inauguration of Fleermuys as a rival traditional leader at Berseba would cause division within the traditional community, and shows complete disrespect to him as the recognised traditional leader, Isaack is claiming.Fleermuys is claiming that the Goliath traditional community and the community being led by Isaack have been co-existing as separate clans for the past 74 years.He has stated in an affidavit also filed with the court that the South African government recognised the Goliath Traditional Authority in 1964, but that this recognition was lost after Namibia’s Independence.The Goliath clan has asked the Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, Jerry Ekandjo, on several occasions not to recognise only Isaack as a traditional chief at Berseba, Fleermuys says in his affidavit. It has also submitted a petition signed by about 700 people to the Minister in support of its request, Fleermuys says.Fleermuys also stated that he now wants to be recognised as traditional chief of the Goliath Traditional Authority, which he says has been in existence for 74 years.Dennis Khama, the lawyer representing Isaack and the /Hai-/Khaua Traditional Authority, argued yesterday that Isaack’s rights as traditional leader are under threat as a result of the plan to swear Fleermuys in as a traditional leader as well.Khama argued that the Traditional Authorities Act sets out the procedure to be followed when a community wants to change its traditional leader. That process has not been followed by the Goliath clan, he argued.Frieda Schultz, representing Fleermuys, acknowledged that in terms of the Traditional Authorities Act a second traditional leader cannot be inaugurated now.She however emphasised that the Goliath clan desires to have its own leader, and does not want to be led by the person who is currently recognised as their traditional chief.Khama was instructed by Government lawyer Tulimeke Koita-Munyika.
