RUNDU - The committee of members of the Hambukushu tribe, established early in January to dethrone Chief Erwin Mbambo for a myriad of alleged transgressions, has come back to haunt the defiant traditional leader.
Though the committee has aborted its mission in January and its members apologised to the chief, it now seems to have gathered its courage to continue its dethroning efforts.

The committee held  what it described as a referendum on November 8, where some 2931 members of the Hambukushu tribe allegedly voted. Out of that, 2705 people voted against Mbambo, with only 222 voting in his favour, said the committee.
There were four spoiled ballots.

“This is a clear indication that the Hambukushu people do not want you to continue as Fumu,” reads a letter signed off by the chairperson of the committee, dubbed the fact-finding and dismissal committee, Casius Mukena.
“Accordingly, you are therefore informed herein that you are no longer the fumu/chief of the Hambukushu traditional community,” the letter further stated.

“We have sent the letter to Mbambo,” Mukena told New Era.
Hambukushu senior headman and Fumu Mbambo’s right hand man Erwin Disho, disputed that the letter has reached the palace.

“I am coming from the palace as we speak and the Fumu has not received such a letter and we can only comment after receiving it because now we are unaware of the content,” Disho said.

New Era understands this is the third time a similar referendum has been conducted in an attempt to oust the Fumu.
On June 5, 1999 a similar referendum was carried out where some 2550 members of the Mbukushu community allegedly voted against the chief, with only 101 voting in favour of him. 

The attempt to oust him never materialised that year.
In July 1999, 3647 people from the tribe allegedly voted against Mbambo’s rule and only 129 voted for him. He remained in power after that referendum too.