THE Ondonga Traditional Authority is divided by the king’s decision to appoint Oscar Sheehama to the Ondonga King’s Council.
Sheehama, a former chief inspector in the police serious crime unit, resigned after the Avid case that claimed Lazarus Kandara’s life.
The decision to appoint Sheehama, who is Ondonga King Immanuel Kauluma Elifas’ nephew, was made last week on Thursday.
This came after he was installed as the headman of Ondonga village recently.
Some senior headmen have threatened to resign, saying the unnecessary appointment was influenced by the Queen of Ondonga Cecilia Elifas to get rid of the members she dislikes.
A traditional council document in the possession of The Namibian says that Sheehama had gotten closer to the Queen who has been accused of engineering various dismissals and appointments at the King’s council. The argument is that Sheehama’s appointment was made without the blessings of the Ondangwa traditional district senior headman, John Walenga, in whose district the village is.
The document further indicated that the chairman of the Ondonga Traditional Authority, Peter Kauluma, was summoned by King Elifas in July and told to create a seat for Sheehama in the council to represent members of the royal family.
The king’s request was, however, rejected by the majority of council members, who saw this as a plot to get Sheehama closer to the throne as part of the queen’s efforts to cling on to power after her husband’s death.
It is also claimed in the document that all decisions are being made by the queen.
“Surely, the king’s name is being misused to advance certain individuals’ agendas. We, the council members, can no longer run the affairs of the tribe with such interferences. We are here to serve the king and his people, not his wife,” said members of the council. They also said Sheehama had been rejected because procedures were not followed, as the king has already appointed his deputy, who will succeed him when he dies. They suspected Sheehama would cause division in the council.
“According to the customs, the king rules with his council, but in Ondonga this is hardly the case. The king is not in good health and he is not getting any support that would defend him and his decisions if they are not pleasing to the wife and her faction.”
When approached for comment, the secretary of the Ondonga Traditional Authority, Josef Asino, told The Namibian that their office did not yet receive the allegations.
“Both the King’s Council and our office did not receive the information that there are some headmen being sidelined by the Queen, and that the royal house is divided into two camps and that there is a plan to replace the chairperson of the Council of the Ondonga Traditional Authority with an outsider,” he said.
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