The Windhoek High Court has dismissed the application by the Blouwes Traditional Authority for an order to compel rural development minister Erastus Uutoni to consider Johannes Koopman as their chief.
Judge Eileen Rakow said the relief sought by the BTA is unattainable as it would be impossible for the court to grant an order against the minister by instructing him to make a decision on the application to designate Koopman as a traditional chief.
According to Rakow, the minister’s decision to declare that there is a leadership dispute and for it to be resolved, and that elections need to be held to determine the next traditional chief of the community, still stands.
In court papers filed on Tuesday, Uutoni said the ministry has already considered Koopman’s application, and declined it in 2015 after investigations indicated that there was uncertainty over how BTA customary laws on succession operate.
He said the only possible solution was to hold elections, where Koopman and his contender David Gertze would compete to succeed the late chief Hans Titus, who died in 2009. However, the elections never took place on 19 July 2016 as planned after a majority boycotted the event.
The BTA, alongside chairman Johannes Baardman, amended their request to the court for it to now direct Uutoni to consider Koopman’s application within 30 days.
Initially, the BTA wanted the court to order Uutoni to set aside the declaration of there being a chieftaincy dispute within the traditional authority, and to consider Koopman as chief.
The BTA claims Uutoni unlawfully failed to properly consider Koopman’s application for chieftaincy.
Sophia Shaningwa, who in 2016 was the minister of Urban and Rural Development, says the succession dispute has been ongoing since 2009 between the BTA clans, //Haboben and !Kharo-!Oan.
She said there is no report on the succession history nor customary law regarding the designation of a chief of the Blouwes traditional community.
The community predominantly live in the Blouwes village and surrounding areas. Blouwes is a settlement of about 300 people in the//Kharas region, about 48 kilometres north-east of Keetmanshoop.
– mamakali@nepc.com.na