THE Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) has rejected calls to abolish the paramount chieftaincy amid an ongoing leadership dispute between rival factions.
The leadership crisis began mid-2021 following the death of the previous paramount chief, Vekuii Rukoro.
Shortly after in December 2021, a meeting held at Onderombapa elected academic professor Mutjinde Katjiua as the new leader.
This triggered immediate opposition from chief Vipuira Kapuuo, the chairman of the OTA Chiefs’ Council, who argued the meeting was unauthorised and launched a High Court challenge in 2022.
The rift deepened when competing factions separately crowned Katjiua and a rival candidate, academic Hoze Riruako, as chiefs, leaving two claimants to the throne.
The matter is currently in the High Court, which has not yet pronounced itself on the matter.
The estimated legal costs between the two factions are said to have reached N$10 million.
OTA institutional coordination representative Apii Katjiruru says the proposal to abolish the paramount chieftaincy was “legally and culturally not doable”.
“The Herero paramount chieftaincy was established in 1863 and we have a sacred duty to treasure and advance it,” Katjiruru says.
He says the conditions that led to the establishment of the paramountcy still exist, particularly in the context of the Ovaherero struggle for restorative justice over the genocide.
The remarks come amid renewed divisions within the OTA, with rival factions supporting Katjiua and Riruako as paramount chief.
The Ovaherero Youth Association has also rejected claims that the chieftaincies should be scrapped because of the dispute over the position, insisting that there is one paramount chief, Katjiua, thereby making its choice clear.
However, Asoli Progressive Party president Josef Kauandenge says the situation was more complicated, arguing that both Katjiua and Riruako currently have Ovaherero supporters behind them.
“For someone to say that there is only one rightful paramount chief under the current situation is far-fetched and simply not true,” Kauandenge says.
He says the matter should ultimately be determined by the High Court, which is expected to rule on which of the two chiefs was procedurally elected.
Kauandenge also questions whether the paramount chieftaincy, in its current form, adequately serves the socio-economic needs of the Ovaherero people.
He says the institution should go beyond attending funerals and weddings and addressing reparations, and should become a vehicle for community development, employment creation and other economic initiatives.
Meanwhile, OTA and National Unity Democratic Organisation member Percy Kapukare has defended Katjiua, saying he was duly elected by the chiefs’ council in accordance with the law.
Kapukare accuses the government of interfering in traditional affairs.
He also rejected the Namibia-Germany joint declaration on the genocide, saying the affected communities should negotiate directly with Germany on reparations.
Kapuuo has rejected Katjiua’s faction for portraying itself as the sole legitimate voice on genocide and restorative justice.
In an internal memo dated 14 August, Kapuuo says the OTA had consistently opposed the joint declaration and that claims suggesting his faction supported members serving on a joint declaration committee were false.
“We are on record as having declared the joint declaration an enemy to our quest for restorative justice,” Kapuuo says.
He says the leadership dispute should be left to the courts, and until then, a paramount chief has not been decided.
Kapuuo says the OTA’s September 2022 chiefs’ council meeting at Ozombuzovindimba resolved not to appoint chiefs in areas aligned to Katjiua and maintained that the decision remains in place
“Let our cultural and moral values prevail, even during times of differences. Let us disagree, but let us not destroy the institution that belongs to all of us,” Kapuuo says.
The dispute over the paramount chieftaincy remains before the courts, with both factions maintaining their respective claims to legitimacy.
