WINDHOEK – The Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Peya Mushelenga, has rejected an application by Queen Aletha Nguvauva, who this time around wanted to be recognised as the Chief of the Ovambanderu Traditional Council in the Otjombinde Constituency of the Omaheke Region.
Nguvauva, in May this year, submitted an application to Mushelenga seeking to be recognised as the chief of the Ovambanderu community at Otjombinde.
But Mushelenga, in his response, said he stands by the decisions of his predecessors, Retired Major General Charles Namoloh and Sophia Shaningwa.
In any case, he would be contemptuous of the court if he granted Nguvauva’s wish under the circumstances, he added.
“I have taken an oath to uphold, protect and defend the constitution and the law of the Republic of Namibia and will exercise my functions without fear, favour or prejudice,” Mushelenga said in a letter addressed to Edward Hauanga and Erastus Kahuure.
Mushelenga said he finds Nguvauva’s application to be in contravention of Section 5 (3) of the Traditional Authority Act due to the fact that the same Ovambanderu traditional community applied for by the late Keharanjo is now represented under the recognised Ovambanderu Traditional Authority under Chief Kilus Munjuku III Nguvauva.
Namoloh, a predecessor in Mushelenga’s portfolio, said in his response to Aletha Nguvauva – in a letter dated 26 January 2015 – he could not consider the application to designate Aletha, as such action would render him to be in contempt of the court, which ruled that Kilus is the legitimate chief of that community.
Namoloh’s response was based on the legal advice from Attorney-General Albert Kawana.
Also, in April 2017, when approached with the same issue then Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Shaningwa explained to Aletha Nguvauva that she [Shaningwa] stood by her predecessor’s (Namoloh) decision and advised that she appeals the court’s decision to recognise Kilus Nguvauva as the minister has no power to interfere with the court order.
Aletha Nguvauva’s application comes as a result of the Ovambanderu chieftainship succession dispute, which erupted in 2008 following the death of Chief Munjuku II Nguvauva in January that year.
This led to the splitting of the community into two factions, one faction supporting then deputy Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Kilus Nguvauva and the other faction supporting the late Keharanjo Nguvauva – both sons of Munjuku II Nguvauva.
Both Kilus and Keharanjo submitted applications claiming to be heirs to the throne.
The issue ended up in the High Court. In the process, Keharanjo passed on.
After the death of Keharanjo, the faction that supported him replaced him with his mother, Aletha Nguvauva, the wife of the late Munjuku II.
On 2 October 2014, the High Court ruled in favour of Kilus to be designated as chief of the Ovambanderu community, which led to his designation as chief.
Despite the court order, in 2015 the Ovambanderu faction supporting Aletha consulted then minister Namoloh and later Shaningwa to consider the designation of Aletha this time as chief of the Ovambanderu Traditional Council in the jurisdiction of Otjombinde in the Omaheke Region.