WITH the Ondonga king Immanuel Kauluma Elifas now 81 and sickly, a fight over his succession is brewing within the royal family.
At the centre of the latest standoff is the queen (omunyekadhi) Cecilia Elifas who has been accused by the Ondonga Traditional Council of elevating Oscar Sheehama – a royal family member – to the council for her own benefit.
Queen Cecilia is considered by a large portion of the royal family and the traditional authority to have acquired significant power and influence in matters related to running the traditional authority.
Although the discontent has become public, the fight is directed at the queen, in a bid to stop her maintaining control over the throne when King Immanuel Kauluma Elifas dies.
Many – royals especially– feel this is illegitimate and want to preserve their traditions and customs and ensure that they maintain control over the throne.
The Namibian has learned that this time around the succession tug-of-war has split three ways. This is unusual because ordinarily the Ndonga royal family has two sides that do not seem to agree on which one should take over from the sitting king.
The two sides are the Epale linage, which currently occupies the throne and to which the king belongs, and the Onethika linage that is supposed to take over from Elifas.
The third party to the equation is queen Cecilia Elifas, who is being accused of trying to manipulate customs and traditions to maintain her hold on the throne once the king is no more. The queen’s supporters say she is being targeted because she is not a Ndonga but a Ngandjera and that the Onethika faction wants to dump her (oku mu tula pomutenya) after her husband dies.
The Epale and Onethika linages appear to be putting their differences aside to jointly fight the queen who they accuse of taking advantage of the king’s old age and poor health to run the traditional authority.
She has allegedly been sitting on the Ondonga king’s council for more than a decade and is the power behind the appointment of headmen, senior headmen and even expulsions from the council.
Ndonga royals who preferred anonymity said traditionally the queen has no business attending council meetings or meddling in the running of the traditional authority’s affairs, especially in deciding who takes over from the king.
The Namibian reported that a handful of council members were unhappy with what they saw as the unceremonious appointment of Oscar Sheehama to the council.
Sheehama is a great nephew of king Elifas and the report stated that many questioned whether his elevation was genuinely king’s decision.
The queen has been accused of manipulating the situation and the king for her own benefit.
She is also accused of being the brains behind the expulsion of former senior headman Boas Mwendeleli, who was one of the most senior members of the council and was considered an expert in Ndonga royal matters.
Those in the know say Mwendeleli held opposing views to queen Elifas especially giving the Onethika side what is due to them, hence his demise.
The animosity towards queen Elifas did not start with Sheehama’s rapid ascendance in the traditional authority while he is not even a senior headman who is eligible to sit in the council.
Sheehama refused to comment on Tuesday referring questions to the council. Sources said cracks started appearing more than a decade ago when king Elifas announced that he had chosen great nephew Shuumbwa Nangolo as king designate.
The move caused friction within the royal family because it was done in a manner that did not follow customs and tradition. An expert in traditional matters explained to The Namibian that firstly Nangolo is a great nephew of the king and cannot therefore be king while there are capable direct nephews and nieces still alive.
The second reason is that Nangolo is two generations below the rightful heirs to the throne. Sheehama is also Nangolo’s generation.
The third reason is that Nangolo is from the Epale linage, while the throne is supposed to change to the Onethika linage since the last three kings all came from the Epale linage.
The fourth reason is that the king designate is not announced publicly and even the king or queen designates themselves should not know about that new status. Only a few elders in the royal family and the council are privileged to this information.
This was done because once the king dies, the royal family has the option of deciding whether the designated candidate is the most suitable. A few other candidates are thrown into the hat and the family votes for the most suitable one.
An example was cited that after King Paulus Elifas died in 1970, his brother Titus Mvula Elifas was supposed to take over the throne but was rejected because he had abandoned his traditional homestead to live in town at the time.
The throne was then given to Filemon Shuumbwa Elifas who died within three years of installation.
After Filemon Shuumbwa Elifas’ death the royal family decided that his younger brother Immanuel Kauluma Elifas takes over and keep the throne within the Epale linage because both Paulus Elifas and Filemon Shuumba Elifas had not ruled for more than five years before they died.
Shuumbwa reportedly declined the offer because he was already engaged at the time.
When contacted for comment queen Cecilia Elifas laughed the allegations off and referred questions to Ondonga traditional authority secretary Josef Asino.
She allegedly tried to fix the marriage because children of a king are not eligible to the throne but nieces and nephews born by the king’s sisters are. In the olden days cousins were allowed to marry.
