WINDHOEK — The Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development has sent a ministerial delegation on a fact-finding mission to establish the rightful heir to the Zeraeua Royal House.
The team arrived in Omatjete on Monday where they met Raphael Haingungo Kapia and his followers before proceeding to meet with Manasse Meundju Zeraeua’s supporters on Tuesday.
This comes in the wake of a protracted chieftaincy dispute between Kapia, of the Ovakweyuva Notjipepa clan and Manasse Zeraeua, son of the late Chief Christian Eerike Zeraeua who died in 2012.
“They want to verify who the rightful heir to the throne is,” said Phillip Ngunovandu, who attended the meeting with the Zeraeua faction and the ministry’s team. The government delegation is expected to meet residents later to gather public opinion on the dispute that has left the community divided.
Kapia challenged the government’s recognition of Zeraeua as the chief of the Zeraeua traditional community as unfair and unreasonable.
Supporters of Kapia claim that Zeraeua should not be chief because the Ovakweyuva Notjipepa clan is the rightful custodian of the royal house.
The Zeraeua supporters say that Manasse Zeraeua is the son of the deceased chief and should become the next chief. Subsequently, both factions held separate coronations for each claimant to the throne and requested government recognition.