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Home / Aminuis Violence Was Unnecesssary and Sparked by Political Opportunism
Aminuis Violence Was Unnecesssary and Sparked by Political Opportunism
2006-11-10Staff Report 2 Allow me space in your esteemed newspaper to reflect a little on the recent spate of violence that happened in the Aminuis constituency where a human life was lost. A young man who was in his prime was gunned down and the nation is still in the dark as to who could have pulled the fateful trigger. There is a tug of war between the police and the community as to who in essence fired the fatal shot. Regardless of who fired the shot, a young life was lost and the guilty party needs to be brought to book and face the full force of the law. In the wake of the police being accused of shooting the deceased, I would propose that the investigation be carried out quickly and that probably the services of an independent investigator like Neels Becker with years of experience be used. It would be unfair for me to let the real reasons behind the violence go unexposed. This was a brother-versus-brother fight. This is so because of the perfectly thought-out 'divide and rule' plan of the SWAPO regime, which is only happy to divide the people of this country, worked to perfection and brothers were fighting one another. Residents of Aminuis are loyal followers of Chief Riruako who is the Paramount Chief of the Ovaherero, and thus the representative of the Paramount Chief of the Ovaherero people in the area, Chief Kavari, is the de facto leader of the community in Aminuis. This is the trend with all communal settlements where Chief Riruako is recognized by many as the Paramount Chief. The situation has been worsening over the past few years since the walkout of the Chief and NUDO from the DTA. The walkout forced the DTA to strategically align itself with the recognized and gazetted chiefs in an attempt to fight Chief Riruako. Theirs was an attempt to defeat the Chief at his own game. This also sparked the Paramount Chief to remove some chiefs who remained in the DTA and were replaced by NUDO loyalists. Chief Tjikuua of Okakarara and Chief Hoveka of the Tjimana clan in Epukiro are two of the chiefs removed by Chief Riruako and replaced by Chief Kakumu and Chief Hangero respectively. The Secretary to the Chiefs Council was replaced be a NUDO loyalist. He claimed that the trio were refusing to report to him were thus replaced in the interest of serving the Ovaherero people. One cannot confirm or deny what the Chief is saying since most - if not all - of the members of the Chiefs Council are members of NUDO, thus others will obviously feel highly uncomfortable with the situation. This whole thing is an issue between political heavyweights in the Ovaherero community wrestling for political support by trying to out-manoeuvre one another within the community. The imposition of chiefs by government in areas where the communities already have chiefs is not new, and the various communities in question have never welcomed it. The majority of the people of Ovitoto did not - and still do not - recognize the Kammakastige chief representing the Kambazembi Royal House in Ovitoto and never approved of his appointment. Again, Government and the DTA had connived to appoint a chief in Ovitoto only because the chief of Ovitoto, who is recognized by most of the residents, is a member of NUDO. The very same objections were given by the people of Aminuis that they already have a chief and thus a new chief was not needed (you can never have no Presidents in a normal democracy) but again, both the DTA and government were adamant and went on with the appointment and look where it has got us today - the loss of an innocent young life caught up in the battle of political opportunism by two camps of tribalists camouflaging themselves as politicians, and political vampires camouflaged as tribal leaders. The imposition of the leaders on the people by the government in concert with the DTA should not let right-thinking human beings get so out of order that lives are lost and shots are fired to control the crowds. We ought to be living in a modern civilization, and acts of medieval barbarism should not be allowed to take control of society. The unfortunate incident at Aminuis has been bred by immature politics in this country and the lack of political direction from some political parties. Political parties should refrain from doing politics the tribal way and avoid the Aminuis incidents from repeating themselves ever in the future. Finally, it is probably time that the government sorted out the Ovaherero chieftainship issue once and for all and save the people from unnecessarily dying any further. It is time a leader of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, who would represent all Hereros, is properly recognized and gazetted. If the communities are finding it difficult to sort out this issue, then call for elections for the Paramount Chief of the Ovaherero people under whom all chiefs should operate. The Ovaherero leaders are at times so arrogant that they make us believe they are better than others, yet they can't sort out petty differences among themselves. Let's go for a once-off vote and elect a chief who will represent all the Ovaherero people, and let's live in harmony with ourselves. Ngatukurise ohange norusuvero kombanda jehi nu atu temangurasana. Natjirikasorua Tjirera Okouue, Ovitoto. 2006-11-10Staff Report 2
