KATIMA MULILO – The dust seems to be far from settling regarding the name change in the newly christened Zambezi Region with support for and against the move.
A group of not more than 20 people headed by former Congress of Democrats (CoD) parliamentarian, Linus Muchila, calling itself ‘Concerned Caprivians’ has come out strongly against the changing of the name Caprivi to Zambezi. The group, angered by the shifting of the region’s boundary plans to hold a demonstration next week to denounce the move.
The ‘Concerned Group’ that claims to be apolitical and which include Alex Kamwi the president of the revived Caprivi African National Union (CANU) and former vice-president of the war veterans association, which ousted him over his CANU links, as well as Martin Lukato the current president of the National Democratic Party (NDP) rejects the decision of the 4th Delimitation Commission on the grounds that it will cause disunity among the inhabitants of the region. The group has also called for a referendum on the matter.
At a hastily convened press briefing yesterday the ‘Concerned Group’ said the name change would erode people’s identity in the region and that other regions and countries in the world today remain with colonial names. “The name change from Caprivi to Zambezi is destined to destroy our identity and history.
To re-write the history of Caprivians should not start and be based on the name change as there is history pointing to other regions, states and organisations still bearing colonial names such as Colombia, Philippines, America, Venezuela and even Swapo and Windhoek,” said the group in the press release read by the group’s secretary, retired teacher Robert Sililo and a member of the now revived CANU. The group accused the delimitation commission of lack of proper consultation and called for a referendum they described as the only proper instrument needed “to test public opinion as per the Namibian constitution”.
“We question the norm on how the delimitation commission came to make some recommendations over the name change when the majority masses of Caprivians were not holistically consulted. The name Caprivi can only be changed through proper consultations and by a referendum instrument to test public opinion as enshrined in the Namibian constitution,” according to the disaffected group. The group also accused the government of demeaning chiefs by spreading ‘falsehoods’ by claiming that the traditional chiefs endorsed the name change and had agreed and signed for the name change.
“The Pohamba administration should also take note of the fact that in the absence of a proper report alluding to documents applied as evidence that our traditional chiefs signed to agree to the name change, it is a situation that reflects the demeaning of our chiefs,” read their statement.
According to the group, the name Zambezi does not unify all the inhabitants of the region and it would only lead to division and chaos as some may feel left out. “The name Zambezi does not unanimously include all the Caprivians who have enjoyed relative peace under the name Caprivi,” according to the group.
The shifting of the regional boundary is another concern that received prominence during the press briefing with the group expressing its dissatisfaction regarding what it sees as loss of tourism income for the region. “We question why Kavango was allowed to extend into Caprivi as that amounts to cutting off tourism activities and mineral resources in our piece of land.
The Namibian government must know that we Caprivians have endured a lot. History is on record that we lost Kasikili Island, Mukwe constituency and now our identity. We therefore move to have the border demarcation shifted back to Andara as it was during the colonial period,” the group is demanding.
The ‘Concerned Group’ further accused the regional council, the 4th Delimitation Commission and the government of being ‘autocratic’ and plans a demonstration to protest the changes next week Thursday, according to information in New Era’s possession. “Come 29th of August 2013, all peace-loving Caprivians should rise to demonstrate against the imposed name change and other unilateral decisions taken by the regional council, delimitation commission and government,” read their statement.
Even though a significant number of the group are members of the revived CANU party, the chairperson of the group, Linus Muchila, said the group was apolitical and that it only represents the views of concerned inhabitants of the region. “People you see around here do not represent any political party or a tribal authority, but the views of the people. We are here as Caprivians with concerns. We do not harbour the views of any political party. We are residents of Caprivi. We stand for unity, peace and democracy of this region. We do not have an intention of forming a new political party,” said Muchila.
Muchila who accused the NBC of stifling the people’s right to be heard further said the name Zambezi may not be embraced by all the inhabitants of the region, since only a section of the population finds the river of any use to them. “The idea is for us to express ourselves and give a platform for those who were cut off by the NBC to exercise their democratic right to speak.
The issue of the name change will divide the people of this region. Zambezi may only be accepted by people living along the Zambezi River starting from Lisikili to Impalila, but Caprivi is not just that part of area (sic). We still have the Barakwena in western Caprivi and people in Mashi and Linyanti. To them the name won’t have any significance,” he said.
“Every ethnic tribe would want to propose their own name and therefore that would cause division. Let’s take the example of our local radio station, it’s called Silozi service. Who are the Lozi people in Caprivi? Are we also going to change it to Zambezi? We use Silozi because it’s a unifying language. Everyone who is saying the Caprivi name is dead and buried is lying.
If indeed we have democracy in this country, he is lying because democracy is the rule of the majority,” said a defiant Muchila. He further indicated his discontent with the regional leadership saying as representatives of the people, they should represent people’s interests and desist from what he termed ‘good boy’ tendencies.
“In each community we have ‘good boys’ who say yes to everything and I am sorry to say our councillors have become ‘good boys’. They cannot decide on something without consulting people they represent and who elected them into office. It doesn’t matter whether the governor was not elected by the people, but the fact that he represent the people, he should listen to what they say,” said Muchila. Members of the group which consisted of about 20 people also included Robert Matongela, a local authority councillor.
Following the recommendation of the 4th Delimitation Commission, the finger-like piece of land was recently renamed Zambezi. The original name of Schuckmannsburg, an area in the eastern flood plains of the region was also restored and is now called Luhonono and the Linyanti and Kabbe constituencies have been split into two with the new constituencies now to be known as Judea Lyaboloma and Kabbe south.
By George Sanzila