Ondonga king’s fate in judge’s hands

HIGH Court judge Maphios Cheda yesterday postponed his ruling on an application to have Ondonga King Immanuel Kauluma Elifas summoned to the Oshakati High Court to explain his alleged actions in a leadership dispute in the Ondonga Traditional Authority.

After hearing oral arguments in a case involving the king and Ondonga Traditional Authority (OTA) traditional leaders reportedly dismissed in July last year over alleged gross misconduct, judge Cheda postponed the delivery of his ruling to 3 September.

The six dismissed traditional leaders are Peter Kauluma, Joseph Asino, John Walenga, Vilho Kamanya, Kashona kaMalulu, Tonata Ngulu and Fillemon Nambili. They have approached the High Court to ask that the king should be called to court to testify and confirm that he indeed ordered their dismissal.

Lawyer George Coleman, representing the dismissed leaders, argued that the decision to dismiss the six could easily be verified if the king could address his people.

Coleman also said the king should identify the letters of dismissal presented to the six as they believed that Elifas did not do the dismissals but they were engineered by “certain powerful elements” within the Ondonga Traditional Authority.

King Elifas was represented by lawyer Elias Shikongo, who argued that the king was very much aware of the procedures to be followed when dismissing people and that the arguments brought forward by the six removed leaders were based on suspicions and hearsay.

Shikongo said the king had no mental illness and he stood by the decisions that were made. Shikongo also told judge Cheda and a packed courtroom that he knew this well as he got the details from the king himself.

Last year Walenga submitted an urgent court application to have the king mentally evaluated to see whether he was still of sound mind and fit to discharge the Ondonga kingdom’s traditional leadership responsibilities. That application was dismissed in the Windhoek High Court, though.

The group of six also questioned the signature stamp used by the traditional authority in the correspondence announcing their firing and the appointment of new traditional councillors.

In the meantime, the dismissed councillors have been replaced by Nepando Amupanda, Reinhold Nepolo, Paavo Amwele, Erastus Mvula and Naeman Kambala.

The dismissed leaders opened a temporary OTA office at Oniipa near Ondangwa, where they are serving the community of Ondonga who “adamantly believe in their leadership”.

The succession dispute within the Ondonga kingdom started when the dismissed councillors challenged the removal of Uukwanambwa district headman Wilbard Lidker, who was replaced by Ester Gwashamba Nepando in February last year.

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