The Oukwanyama Traditional Authority says elections of headmen and women will only be conducted in situations where more than one person is vying for the position.
This follows media reports this week that the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority would no longer allow village headmanship positions to pass through family lines and would instead have communities elect leaders.
The report states that some of the village headmen and women inherit the title through an elder family member in the traditional community.
The traditional authority’s spokesperson Andrew Naikaku told The Namibian yesterday that the authority has not introduced a new provision requiring headmen to be elected.
Naikaku explained that headmen or women are generally appointed through village councils, adding that elections are only used when several people express interest in the same position.
“In instances where there are two people interested, one of them can be appointed as the headman.
But where there are more people expressing interest in the position, they are given the opportunity to hold a poll,” he said.
According to Naikaku, the arrangement has existed for some time and is only applied when necessary.
The secretary to the Oukwanyama queen, lawyer Fritz Nghishililwa, says appointments and elections of headmen are recognised under Namibian law.
“The law clearly states that a chief, queen or head of a traditional community may appoint a leader or cause that person to be elected by the community. There is nothing wrong with the queen being given powers to appoint a headman or to allow an election.
It is consistent with Namibia’s Constitution, which promotes democratic principles,” he says.
Nghishililwa also disputes the use of the word “inheritance” when referring to traditional leadership positions.
“You cannot inherit a headman title. You inherit property, cattle, money or houses.
A leadership position is not inherited; it is an appointment under customary law,” he explains.
According to him, the authority’s approach should be viewed as an implementation of provisions already contained in national legislation.
Traditional affairs expert and Oukwanyama royal family member Paulus Kautwima says much of the debate stems from the difference between legal provisions and long-standing customary practices.
Kautwima says in the past, serving headmen often identified relatives to succeed them.
He says the current discussions are aimed at giving communities a greater role in choosing their leaders.
“The understanding has always been that the serving headman identifies a successor, often from the same family.
Now the proposal is that communities can choose between different candidates through an election process.”
ELECTION NOT RECOMMENDED
Social commentator Dennis Hatutale says while election of headmen and women could improve leadership in some villages, they also come with risks.
“We have been doing it for a while now. Sometimes some of these inherited headmen do not have the capacity to take the village forward,” he observes.
Hatutale says allowing communities to vote for their leaders could help identify people better suited for the role.
However, he warns that elections could bring politics into traditional leadership structures.
“It is both good and bad.
When you start having elections, it becomes almost like politics.
Traditional elections have a lot of politics involved now because the people who are elected as headman are the people with money, like politicians or government officials and the simple man who lives in the village is left out,” he told The Namibian this week.
Urban and rural development minister James Sankwasa describes the process as an internal matter for the traditional authority.
“Whatever they do in their culture, it is not my baby,” he says.
