Windhoek
A dispute between the Ovaherero and Ovahimba community in the Okanandjira village situated about 85 kilometres south of Opuwo has resulted in the latter being denied grazing for their animals in the predominantly Ovaherero village.
The village reportedly has two traditional leaders representing the Ovaherero and Ovahimba communities there. The latter chief, Tjijatu Herunga allowed three households of the Ovahimba tribe to be resettled in that village sometime last year without consulting the community members, who are predominantly of the Ovaherero tribe.
Ovaherero traditional leader of that village, Hosea Tjimuine was reportedly notified about the resettlement. However, some community members at the village backed by Tjimuine want the people to go back to where they came from ‘because they are Ovahimba and not Ovaherero’. A dispute erupted in March this year regarding the three households’ relocation to the village mainly because of the drought. The dust has since refused to settle and matters continue to get worse as the some members of the group belonging to the Ovaherero tribe of that community who allegedly named themselves “Boko Haram” is preventing the three households and their animals water and grazing.
“…The people told us to move back to where we came from because we are Ovahimba. We refused to move and now those people took some of our cows by force and they refuse us water and grazing. Our animals are dying of thirst. They put up their camps close to the water points to prevent our animals from drinking water,” one of the one of the affected villagers, Tjimaka Tjijahura, said.
Tjijahura who spoke in an interview with New Era on Monday June 01, 2015 said further that the affected households want to go and look for their livestock that was seized by their opponents but were told that they would be killed if they dared to do so.
“Some of our cattle are lost but the group that refers to themselves as ‘Boko Haram’ said they will kill us if we go and look for the animals. They are discriminating against us because they think we are uneducated,” remarked Tjimaka further. Herunga also commented the community keeps sabotaging their stay there by stealing their property, making it difficult for them to survive. In addition, the community also does not want them to graze their livestock there, he confirmed. “I have been living here for the past 28 years.
Where do I go from here,” the 60-year old Herunga commented. Contacted for comment, the Executive Director of the Hizetjitwa Indigenous People’s Organisation (HIPO), Tjikunda Kulunga said although the problem in Okanandjira village needs to be looked at holistically, people should not be moved because they are a minority tribe in the area but rather because of a wrongdoing.
“…It is constitutionally and ethically wrong,” commented Kulunga on the issue of the three household members in Okanandjira being forced to leave because of tribe. The councillor of Opuwo constituency, Kazehongere Tjeundo allegedly sided with the community in chasing the members of the three households to leave the area because of the community’s decision. Kulunga said it is uncalled for that a councillor has to side with communities on basis of tribe rather than on the basis of wrongdoing. “People should learn to share and accommodate others. Kunene is under drought and many people move because of the drought,” said Kulunga. When contacted for comment, Tjeundo said he was asked to intervene in the matter but not to make a decision. “…I’m not siding with anybody,” Tjeundo added. He said further that he did not know whether the three people moved to the area without permission. At a meeting recently held there, it was decided that the three households should move back because “they came in with no permission and they should go back for peace and stability to prevail,” said Tjeundo.
Kulunga said there is nothing much that HIPO can do on the matter other than to follow it closely and advise the relevant parties accordingly. New Era could not get hold of Tjimuine by the time of going to print.