Katima Mulilo
The Masubia Traditional Authority has condemned the recent meeting convened by Gilbert Mutwa Moraliswani, who wants Bukalo to be de-proclamed as a village council.
Gilbert Mutwa Moraliswani is the eldest son of the late Masubia chief Joshua Mutwa Moraliswani.
He has been advocating for the de-proclamation of Bukalo on the grounds that if the status quo remains, the village council could erode the rich cultural values and norms of the Masubia community.
Early this year this newspaper ran a story in which Mutwa condemned the proclamation of Bukalo, leading to a trading of accusations between him and the traditional authority. In his latest campaign Mutwa recently convened a meeting at Ngoma, where the royal family hails from, to restate his disappointment over the issue.
The meeting is said to have been attended by less than 10 people. Also in attendance were Bartholomew Maiba Sinvula and another unidentified royal family member.
In what is widely seen as blatant disobedience, Mutwa aired a prior announcement on the local radio station, in which he called all Masubia to attend the purported meeting, bypassing the traditional authority protocol as is required.
During the meeting Mutwa is said to have utterly belittled the traditional authority by accusing it of being corrupt. “The khuta (traditional authority) supporting the Bukalo Village Council is an abomination. The traditional authority has failed its people. The day the khuta publicly announced themselves as proponents of a municipality, that’s the very day they lost their mandate to rule the affairs of the Masubia people. That traditional regime is an imposter and does not belong there anymore. We don’t need sellouts,” a defiant Mutwa lashed out at the khuta led by his paternal uncle Chief Kisko Liswani III.
Mutwa further accused government of failing to listen to what he said are “concerns of the Masubia”, threatening to take government to court should his appeal be ignored.
“We are literally selling our royal establishment to the highest bidder. We are not happy that our request has fallen on deaf ears. Please move to an area between Bukalo and Mubiza. If government continues to ignore my plea as representative of the Masubia royal family, I will be forced to seek legal adjudication to settle the matter once and for all,” lamented Mutwa.
This reporter is in possession of a letter written by Mutwa to former prime minister, now Namibian President Hage Geingob, in which the same concerns were shared.
According to Mutwa the establishment of a town within the Masubia kingdom only purports to destroy it and lessen the authority of the chief. “This would mean the destruction of the kingdom, what it stands for, its values, the history and the identity of the people,” argued Mutwa.
Some sources within the traditional authority believe Mutwa is bitter for not having inherited the throne from his father, the late Joshua Maiba Moraliswani, who passed away in 1996.
Moraliswani is said to have explicitly stated that the throne should be passed on to his siblings followed by his sons.
His wish was fulfilled when his younger brother, Kisco Liswani III, was subsequently coronated as chief in the same year of his elder brother’s death.
Sources cite that it is this resentment that has made Mutwa to continuously undermine the current traditional authority.
The natamoyo (adviser to the chief) of the Masubia Traditional Authority, Morris Muyatwa, noted that a misconception exists that the royal family is opposed to the development of Bukalo as a town, while this campaign has been a one-man show.
“It is not only the issue of de-gazetting of Bukalo; many issues are involved. This whole idea is of one person and not the royal family. He is not the only member of the royal family. The chief and the khuta did not even know about this meeting,” countered Muyatwa.
According to Muyatwa, as natamoyo he is together with the chief empowered to approve or disapprove meetings involving the traditional authority, adding that the traditional authority was in agreement with the development at Bukalo.
Similar sentiments were echoed by the ngambela (second to the chief) of the Masubia, Albius Kamwi, who noted that the poor attendance of the meeting showed that the Masubia people are not in support of de-gazetting Bukalo as a town.
“The two institutions have to co-exist. This will not be the first traditional authority to be found in town. Development comes to the people and not the bush. We heard that only a few people turned up at the so-called meeting. That should tell you something. The royal family is not three people, it’s a lot of people,” elaborated Kamwi – a veiled reference to three members of the royal family including Mutwa said to have convened the meeting.
Asked whether the traditional authority would take any action against what it alleges to be defiance on the part of Mutwa, natamoyo Muyatwa noted that the traditional authority needed to sit and find a course of action.
Zambezi Regional Council chairperson Raphael Mbala noted early this year that the development of the area would in no way affect the traditional authority as demarcations were already put in place, likening the khuta to the Vatican City in Rome, which is autonomous despite its location in Rome.
He also noted at the time that plans to develop the settlement were not brought by the current khuta but dates back to former Chief Moraliswani in 1982. Repeated attempts to get comment from Mutwa proved futile as his mobile phone remained switched off.
Bukalo was declared a town in 2013 and currently has over 6 000 inhabitants.
Construction of infrastructure is already under way in the area including village council offices and the mass housing project.