Benedictus Basson
If one dissects the prevailing ominous silence with regards to the replacement of our late chief Joël Stephanus, I put the blame squarely in front of the doorstep of surviving traditional councillors under the leadership of chief councillor Martin Biwa. They know exactly what legacy was left behind, but they are deliberately doing nothing to change the frustrating status quo for personal economic gain.
To pour oil on the fire, a fishing giant called Hompa Investment, spearheaded by the Kudumo family, injected some N$230 000 into the bank accounts of all 52 recognised Traditional Authorities in Namibia.
The situation is quite vexatious that they’re practising delaying tactics to embezzle that money first before setting into motion the process of replacing the late chief. It’s mind-boggling that they are continuing with the politically cantankerous divide-and-rule tactics of the previous regime of Jöel’s administration. They’re foisting non-existing facts that form the gist of the visible delaying tactics, which are frustrating the mediocre class of the community, who were already attempting to remove them.
However, the worst part of all this is that they’re under the political shadow net of the Swapo government as apparent long-time comrades, which has nothing but nothing to do with the suffering of the masses.
As things appear, only Urban and Rural Development minister Erastus Utoni and President Hage Geingob should step in and take draconian strategic remedial measures to defuse this situation.
The surviving leadership is even literally afraid to meet with the broad community for the simple reason that they are reportedly reluctant to be removed. They must just know that we are sick and tired of their heinous and coercive, perilous acts. So, I therefore extent a serious warning to them that they are sleeping on a ticking time-bomb. They are apparently advancing claims of the purity of the successor, which are unconstitutional in terms of Article 10 of the Namibian Constitution.
Little do they know that they are interfering into the intransigent fundamental rights of the inhabitants. In essence, they are hiding behind arguments and facts that are misconstrued and are being superseded by both the Namibian constitution and the Traditional Authorities Act No. 25 of 2000. Their ludicrous and abhorrent management style does very little or nothing to pull the community out of the quagmire of poverty. Therefore, I am warning that it’s high time for the central government to stop entertaining this type of management in traditional communities before we take the law into our own hands in an unspecified demeanour. Thus, the government as the referee must intervene and resolve this impasse in all traditional authorities.
* Benedictus Basson writes from Vaalgras.