KATIMA MULILO – The Bwabwata Khwe have threatened to boycott the upcoming national elections if their designated chief is not recognised. 

This follows continued disputes between the Khwe and the Hambukushu over the matter, which hampered the marginalised San-speaking communities within Bwabwata (both in the Zambezi and Kavango East regions) from having a recognised chief, despite having a designated person to lead them.

His name is Thaddeus Chedau. 

The community has already submitted their candidate to the government for recognition. 

The Khwe of Bwabwata have also questioned why they are without a recognised traditional authority or area of the jurisdiction they can call home since time immemorial.

Although the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, with support from the Environment Ministry, gave the Khwe the go-ahead to have their chief, that process has been put on hold, and blocked by the Hambukushu traditional authority in Kavango East, who also claim the same area as their ancestral land.

The Hambukushu have since written to President Nangolo Mbumba to intervene.

In an interview with some of the affected Khwe this week, most registered both disappointment and consternation.

“As the Khwe living in Bwabwata, we want our own Khwe chief to be recognised as soon as possible within one month’s time. We don’t want to vote since we are not recognised as Namibians. Every tribe has its leaders, yet we don’t. Every tribe has their own ancestral land, yet our Bwabwata has become a burning issue in Namibia. We are in the hands of the Hambukushu, where we are suffering, yet we are told that this country is independent,” bemoaned Khumalo Kaseta.

He expressed that most of his community wants the whole Bwabwata to be part of the Zambezi region so that they can get their constituency, which will be led by their people and bring about development and services closer.

They believe that having their own constituency office will reduce the high rate of unemployment facing their marginalised community.

Kaseta said the constituency office will bring a lot of government projects, especially for the youth.

Geria Sonner, a proposed senior traditional councillor should their wish become a reality, opined that the government does not have any issue regarding their chieftaincy.

“The delay is with the Hambukushu traditional authority because after the two ministries threw the balloon in our hands, Hambukushu chief Mbambo called his members, and wrote the letter against our chieftaincy to the head of state. We wrote a letter to the minister of urban rural development, and informed him, whom we designated as Khwe chief,” he said.

He said the youth are not excited about the ongoing voter registration to enable them to go and vote in November.

“They are more stressed than elders on the delayed issue of the Khwe designated chief. This issue is stressful at this point in time. The youth will vote, but it will be filled with hardship and pain. Now, the attention is more on our designated chief, not on political party issues. After his recognition, our attention will be shifted to that part,” he remarked.

He suggested to the Electoral Commission of Namibia that they offer proper training to the Khwe by bringing an office into their area so that they can be trained in their local language.

“The area is quite big. We are not listening to national news at all. We want a radio station in our local language, but there’s no station for the Khwe. On that part, we are like dustbins, or a dustbin is even better than us,” he charged.

A Khwe youth, Mercy Tutco, said since Namibia got its independence, they have been sending written notes over the recognition of traditional authority powers.

On elections, she said they want the youth to take part as registration officers or polling officers to make communication easier for the Khwe community members.

“We also want political parties to involve one of our tribesmen to participate in the election process,” she demanded.

She said they want to be part of the electoral process, but many do not have notional documents.

-anakale@nepc.com.na

(Khwe)

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