2015-01-23Staff Report 2 By Prince Gilbert Muhongo Mutwa Muraliswani IT is shocking the thought of registering a royal establishment as town, what barbarism is this? It is simply cruel and disrespectful for the government to register a royal establishment as a town, knowing the consequences thereof. Town administration in a royal settlement deprives the administration and preservation of culture from the traditional authority to town administrators (councillors, CEOs, investors, etc). And this governance is ideal and more than welcome anywhere and everywhere else in the Zambezi Region but not in a royal cluster. The Bukalo settlement is the headquarters of the Masubia community in the Zambezi Region and this settlement represents our culture, language, and the history of our people. Therefore, the registration of the royal settlement would rescind and devalue our culture. The royal family members discussed this issue at length and unanimously agreed that handing over administration from the traditional authority to village council is not in the best interest of the community and the entire Zambezi Region in its entirety, and as an alternative, a settlement must be exploited for development purposes - ideally 8 to 10 km from Bukalo to Mubiza would be suitable so as not to infringe and disrespect other people’s cultural heritage and preservations. I wrote to the President and Prime Minister in this regard with the hope that this issue would be reviewed and reversed, but the government did not respond. We are disappointed with government going ahead with this project despite appeals of non-consensus among the traditional authority leaders and the royal family member representatives. I am not by any means anti-development or antagonistic to administrative decisions taken by government at any structural level but the Bukalo settlement must remain as is, with due respect to the culture, the tradition and the traditional authority as has been the case since 1650. Why the government is turning a deaf ear to our (Caprivians) requests is beyond me, with reference to the case: A submission to the delimitation commission, February 2013 regarding western Caprivi. A decision was taken by government to give the then Kavango Region parts of the western Caprivi up to Chetto. It is a known fact that that area belongs to Caprivi from time immemorial, that is where we bordered the Mbukushu tribesmen before the immigration of other tribes in that area and today it is part of newly proclaimed Kavango East Region. Please remember that Caprivians were on an equal footing with other tribes who participated in this country’s liberation struggle. People in Caprivi want a town, while having failed and still failing to develop the one town they have. We do not have industrial areas in Katima Mulilo , and the roads are bad. Even when our people are sick, they are transferred to Rundu. Our health centre in Zambezi is not up to standard. So, what is the goal in the government demolishing the cultural centre of other tribes? Surely, we are neglected enough! Surely, you can find another place within the region to transform, but start with Katima Mulilo. 2015-01-23Staff Report 2
