UIS — Tensions between a faction of the Dauredaman community and their traditional authority persist, and saw the group boycotting the annual cultural festival on Saturday and afterwards locking the traditional authority offices in Uis.
The disgruntled community members later showed up at the festival venue, some 10 kilometres from the town, to express their disappointment once again in the way their traditional affairs and finances were being handled.
These disgruntled community members do not want Chief Sagarias Seibeb to be their leader, and are now demanding that President Nangolo Mbumba intervenes in the matter as their request for intervention by urban development minister Erastus Uutoni have allegedly fallen on deaf ears.
“We cannot be attending cultural festivals while there is disunity and unhappiness amongst us. The last meeting we had with them was in 2019, and the concerns of the community are genuine,” one of the residents said during a protest march through the streets of Uis.
Speaking on behalf of the residents, community activist Jimmy Areseb said Uutoni has deliberately been discriminating against them by not acting on the petition the community handed over in May last year.
“It has been a year since we have aired our grievances. But instead of listening to the pleas of the community, the minister gazetted the traditional authority councillors who were not on the list, while there is a pending petition,” he stated.
Areseb said the minister’s delay is discriminatory, based on their social and economic status, and is directly undermining their fundamental human rights. They are, therefore, taking their grievances to the president in the hope of getting a swift intervention.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Uutoni acknowledged receiving the petition from the group, and said he would be looking into it.
“We always want to promote harmony and unity among communities and their traditional leaders, as disunity is never good for a community,” he said.
We don’t want you
The group stressed that they do not want Seibeb anymore, as he only caters for those close to him. “We don’t want you as our leader. Therefore, please vacate our offices with immediate effect. We have been waiting for too long. We are giving you seven days to respond to us,” the group said.
They insisted that they were forced to take these drastic measures as Seibeb has caused division among the community, and uses the tactic to keep the community uninformed about developments taking place in their area.
They added that mining activities, the green hydrogen project and rock explorations are some of the activities the chief has not briefed the community about.
“Our chief permits investors to start operating without following relevant procedures. We just see people coming into our areas without our knowledge, and they start digging the land they claim they allegedly bought from the chief.”
Approached for comment, Seibeb urged New Era to make a formal appointment to get a response. – edeklerk@nepc.com.na