Festus Hamwalwa

ONGWEDIVA - A widow and her children were allegedly left with nothing after her late husband’s family cleaned out his bank accounts, scattered the business and took all the properties, including cars and a homestead.

Celina Shuuveni, the widow of once well-established Outapi-based businessman Erasmus Shuuveni, said her in-laws forged her husband’s death certificate, and lied under oath that her husband was not married.

She claims she was legally married and their marriage produced seven children, in addition to her husband’s five other children who were born out of wedlock. Erasmus, who was a big player in the construction industry, died in 2015.

The aggrieved widow said her husband’s family only left them with a house in Outapi town, where the water has since been cut off due to the inheritance squabble, which left them cash-strapped. Some of her children also had to drop out of university due to a lack of funds.

The inherited properties include hundreds of thousands of dollars from various bank accounts, four cars and a homestead. “They are also constantly threatening me, accusing me of killing their brother,” she said.

Efforts to recover what was stolen from her proved futile. “I went to the traditional authority of Ombalantu to seek assistance and I also hired lawyers to intervene, all to no avail,” she added.

Their daughter, Mirjam Shuuveni, said she and her siblings fell into dire poverty after their father’s death. “We no longer have running water in our house; it has been cut off due to debts. My mother fell into huge debt, and we left school,” said the 27-year-old.

Another child, Erasmus Shuuveni, said it was unfair for their paternal relatives to inherit all their father’s properties. “Now, I am just in the streets suffering. If my father was alive, then I would have completed my studies,” he lamented. However, Nestory Shuuveni, brother of the late Erasmus Shuuveni, claims that his brother was never legally married.

“Celina is lying. She and my brother only lived together for a very long time, but they were never married. ”Nestory claims that they had to find “other ways” to obtain the death certificate after Celina refused to give it to them after the burial.

“The deceased was in a debt of N$68 000. We were receiving calls from various companies, warning us to pay the deceased’s debts, including those for the funeral service,” he added.

“I took another woman, who has three children with the deceased, and we went together to home affairs in Outapi to procure another death certificate to access funds from the banks. We then withdrew the N$68 000, and paid the accounts that were in debt.”

He confessed that they shared the three vehicles amongst themselves, including the two Toyota Land Cruisers and a Toyota Hilux pickup. The deceased also left behind a small truck “for the children”.

Some of the vehicles belonged to the business, which has since died a natural death. “The deceased was busy building his house at the village, but he did not complete it. After his death, I consulted Celina whether she wanted to take over the homestead. She refused, so we took it,” he narrated.

Nestory added that he has since completed building the village house, which now belongs to him. In Namibia, inheritance in the absence of a will is still governed by race-based rules, and makes no provision for the maintenance of spouses or any dependents other than minor children.

Marital property regimes are still governed by race-based rules that often leave those families who can not afford lawyers at a disadvantage.

To complicate the rules further, Namibian laws governing marriages are divided between north of the “Police Zone”, similar to the red line, and the rest of the country.

Civil marriages, which take place north of the old Police Zone, are sometimes referred to as “red line marriages”. All civil marriages between “natives” north of the old Police Zone on or after 1 August 1950 are automatically “out of community of property”, unless a declaration was signed before a magistrate within one month before the marriage took place.

The Legal Assistance Centre has offered to take up Celina’s case. Ombalantu Traditional Authority spokesperson Angula Kanelombe said this is unacceptable and out of order. “By the laws of the traditional authority, the widow is not allowed to be chased out of her husband’s homestead. We don’t allow this in our authority,” he stated indignantly. However, Kanelombe said they checked the bookkeeping in their office, but did not find any case registered regarding this matter. “We will follow up and consult the widow,” he added.

- fhamalwa@nepc.com.na