Chief Alfons Maharero mourned

FUNERAL arrangements for Chief Alfons Kaihepovazandu Maharero are still to be finalised, Phanuel Kaapama said yesterday.

Chief Maharero died at the age of 74 on the afternoon of last Wednesday after he was interned first at the Katutura State Hospital and then later at Windhoek Central Hospital. Senior traditional councillor of the Maharero Traditional Council, Urbans Kuhanga, yesterday said chief Maharero had come to Windhoek from Otjinene last week to have a wound sustained at State House in February looked at. His sudden death was mourned by the community of the traditional council, as well as the Ovaherero/Ovambanderu Council for the Dialogue on the 1904 (OCD-1904). ‘He will be dearly missed by his comrades in the Council of the Royal Traditional Authorities of Ovaherero/Ovambanderu, the OCD-1904 and the technical committee of the OCD-1904,’ said the OCD-1904 technical committee. ‘The OCD-1904 leadership, the entire membership and supporters will continue with the course which the late chairperson stood for and dedicated his precious life.’Due to Maharero’s untimely death, his successor as chairperson of the OCD-1904 is to be decided on at the sixth summit of the OCD-1904 to be held at Epukiro, Post 3, in due course. Senior councillor Kuhanga remembered Maharero as a peaceful and humble person who was always a very careful and attentive listener. ‘He always wanted to test the feelings and opinions of his subjects before he came to a decision. He did not like disputes and due to that he sometimes compromised; he was very tolerant,’ said Kuhanga. Maharero was the son of Maripeuai, who was the younger brother of Samuel Maharero, and grandson of King Maharero, son of Tjamuaha. His father died in December, 1969, and Maharero assumed the position of chief of the Maharero Royal House after the death of chief Hosea Kutako on July 12, 1970.As young men, Maharero and Kuhanga were enlisted in contract labour in Windhoek, and worked in construction. In the early 1980s, Maharare undertook a trip to Lusaka, Zambia, where he met with Sam Nujoma, and on his return, he declared his allegiance with the liberation struggle led by Swapo. This put him on a collision course with pockets of Herero groups, who openly ostracised him through numerous arson attacks on his and his family’s properties. Kuhanga said Maharero had hoped that the provocations would end at independence under the dispensation of national reconciliation, but other incidents followed. Particularly three of these incidents, said Kuhanga, pre-occupied chief Maharero before his death. These were disruptions at Aminuis in the middle of the 2000s when the chief went to install one of the councillors there, during the von Trotha family’s visit to Namibia in November 2007, and especially the disruption of the holy fire at Okahandja in 2011, which was considered a serious affront to the followers and descendants of the Maharero/Tjamuaha bloodline. Phanuel Kaapama said Maharero’s successor will only be decided upon after his funeral and mourning period. Maharero left behind his wife, Anastansia, with 17 of his surviving 22 children, as well as 63 grandchildren.