Vaalgras traditional leader vows to stay put

IN the wake of calls to have him removed as Orlam leader, Chief Joel Stephanus of the Nama-speaking Herero tribe has vowed to stay put.

In a media statement read by traditional authority’s secretary, Willem Konjore, at Vaalgras on Friday, Stephanus said he won’t bow to pressure from a ‘handful of rebels’ calling for his removal, adding they were only out to disrupt the peace and stability that has been prevailing in the community for decades. ‘I want to made it categorically clear to the Vaalgras community and the nation at large that me and my council will stay put and are still in full charge of Vaalgras,’ Stephanus said in a statement he co-signed with Konjore and senior councillor Martin Biwa. ‘This mandate was given to me by the majority of the Vaalgras community and can’t and won’t be taken from me and my council by a small rebel group,’ said Stephanus. Stephanus noted that the leadership struggle started with what was initially termed a family day for the descendants of the late Chief Jan Apollus, which later was changed into a commemoration of the late chief. He added that the struggled intensified when a concerned group initiated a media onslaught in 2009 under the banner ‘Children of Vaalgras speak’. ‘It is right from the start the objective of the so-called concerned group to dethrone Chief Joel Stephanus and replace him and his council with people of their choice,’ said Stephanus. On the same day a Vaalgras interim committee issued a statement in which they stated that ‘Joel Stephanus’s rule in Vaalgras is no more’. The committee was formed at meeting this month at which disgruntled Vaalgras community members had passed a vote of no confidence against Stephanus, and petitioned Local Government Minister Jerry Ekandjo to cancel the traditional authority’s leadership mandate. Delivering the interim committee’s statement, Reverend Andreas Biwa said the June 4 decision ‘is solemn, not debatable, non-negotiable, irreversible and final’.’The interim committee is in charge pending Government response. The Vaalgras interim committee is in touch with Government, and is very active in the process of preparing for the election of a new leader for Vaalgras. Historically this how we elect chiefs, and it’s how Joel Stephanus was elected,’ Biwa added. Alleged lack of development, development sabotage by the council, the council’s failure to work with the regional government, firing and hiring of councillors and financial irregularities were given as reasons for removing Stephanus and his entire traditional council.Brushing off the allegations as untrue at Friday’s press conference, Stephanus said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had dropped an investigation into allegations of maladministration and theft of community property after it found the corruption claims unfounded. luqman@namibian.com.na