It seems the quest for a paramount chief in the Zambezi region is still on the cards, and it is only that this time around it is being aired on social media through video clips by a secret cult organisation whose members are operating from Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. The members of this secret cult happen to belong to the Masubiya ethnic group. 

The contenders for the position of paramount chief, like in the past years, originate from the eastern part of the region. It is a similar scenario like when in 1983, the late Chief Moraliswani took former Chief Richard Temuso Muhinda Mamili to court over a claim that he (Chief Moraliswani) was supposed to be the paramount chief of the then Caprivi region. 

The claim further stated that Chief Moraliswani, if he was to be appointed as the supreme chief of all the tribes and inhabitants of the Caprivi, was supposed to be regarded as the owner and/or custodian and/or controller of all communal land in the Caprivi. In the process, Chief Moraliswani and his people coined the term Munitenge, symbolising that he was the sole leader of the Caprivi, controversially referred to as Intenge. 

In unison, the Mafwe donated money and other items to defend themselves against such a claim. The date of the summons, which was served on Chief Mamili ,was 19 April 1983. The hearing was on 5 March 1985.  The judgement was delivered on 12 June 1985, in which Chief Moraliswani lost the case in the Supreme Court of South Africa in Bloemfontein. 

The verdict nullified Chief Moraliswani’s claim and affirmed that both chiefs were equal in terms of their status, and were responsible in the area of jurisdiction of their people. It was a sad period for all Caprivians, who loved peace and the development of their region that time. Mafwe regarded the claim case as illegal, and that it had died with colonialism. But in 1991, there was a declaration from late Chief Moraliswani that he was the sole ruler of the Caprivi region from Andara to Impalila. 

To show that the claim was still alive and kicking, on 24 June 2008, one of the current aspiring princes to take over the Subia throne wrote a letter to Mfumu Mbambo Munika, informing him that Andara was the border between the Masubiya Traditional Authority and HaMbukushu, annihilating all ethnic groups between the two areas. Recently, the created secret cult from the eastern part of Zambezi, whose clips have gone viral, supports this move. 

The secret cult claims areas as far as Lusu, under Chief Mamili for years, as belonging to the Masubiya Traditional Authority. The secret cult further incites the Subiya youth to take that land by force. This could be reminiscent of 2 August 1999, in which innocent lives were lost when secessionists took up arms and attacked some installations. 

Such claims of a paramount chief for the entire region are baseless in an independent Namibia and in fact provocative, to say the least, especially when such pronouncements are imposed on the people. For one to claim to go back and redraw the map of 1450 and respect those borders during the 21st century is sheer illusion, because the demography of the area has changed drastically. In addition, the Berlin Conference and the Anglo-German Treaty, commonly known as the Heligoland treaty, has destroyed all the tribal borders. Surprisingly, the Organisation of African Unity in cementing the colonial borders adopted Resolution AHG/Res. 16(1) in Cairo, Egypt from 17 to 21 July 1964 on the principle of respecting borders existing at the time of accession to national independence.  Still, the prospect of having a paramount chief in the region is not tenable and sustainable because the two main groups have been living side by side under their former Luyana masters, and new chiefs have been created. 

Maritz (1996) in his article, the Subia and Fwe of Caprivi, vol. 26 no 2 1996 Africa Insight pp183, maintains that from the ethno-history of the Fwe as well as that of the Subia, it is clear that there does not exist known historical grounds which can be cited to support a claim that the present Eastern Caprivi as a whole “belonged” to the Subia and that the Subia chief is - or should be - the only chief (or paramount chief) of the area. This statement equally echoes the historical facts held by Mafwe oral traditionalists that during the periods of existence of the people of Zambezi, no Subiya chief ruled over other ethnic groups in the region. 

The known periods were the first Luyana kingdom, the Kololo rule, the second Luyana kingdom, the German Rule, the South African rule and finally the post-independence era. In addition, skipping and ignoring the jurisdiction of other chiefs in the claimed areas is tantamount to humiliating them, which is in conflict with the constitutional provision of Article 8 (1), which clearly states that the dignity of all persons shall be inviolable. However, why does this claim of paramount chief keep on resurfacing only in the Zambezi?  It is sheer tribalism and taking other groups for granted, despite the fact that the region belongs to all the people living in it. Changing history like that hinges on revolution, and this situation may lead the region into civil conflict, with unimaginable and irreparable damage.