ONGWEDIVA – The ongoing disputes between Aandonga and Aakwanyama cattle farmers in the Ohangwena Region left one person seriously injured and another held at gunpoint over the weekend.
According to the police spokesperson in the region, Sergeant Kuume Itumba, the police are investigating a case of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm after 28-year-old Fillemon Josef from Omupanda village was seriously injured on the right arm after he was struck with a knobkierrie. “The complainant was allegedly beaten with a knobkierrie and he sustained serious injuries on the right arm,” said Itumba. Still in Omupanda a young man was held at gunpoint at the farm of Festus Kambalala on Friday. According to Itumba the suspect allegedly held the victim at gunpoint with a shotgun and threatened to shoot him. The suspects in the two cases have been identified as residents of Elombe village, but no arrests were made.
Because of a pending investigation police could not establish what caused the weekend’s unpleasantness. However, members of the community referred New Era to a source who preferred anonymity. The source revealed that unidentified men who travelled from the Oshikoto to the Ohangwena Region where the attacks took place found freshly felled wooden logs belonging to some local young men near one of the farms at Omupanda village. The men, upon seeing the wood reportedly took their axes and chopped it into even smaller pieces. “They followed the footsteps from where the wood was abandoned to some cuca shops where they allegedly interrogated the young man who was amongst those that had felled the logs,” related the source. The source further revealed that the injured man and the one who was held at gunpoint were only caught in the crossfire, since they were not the ones who felled the wooden logs.
“Not only was it an old entrance for animals. That is where the locally community cut their wood for fencing and housing. It is just not clear why the young men were victimized perhaps they have their own personal reasons,” related the source.
By Nuusita Ashipala