Pastor Boas Roree Tjingaete was crowned as the third chief of the Otjombinde Traditional Authority on Saturday.

Unlike many other traditional authorities such as the Maharero and Kambazembi authorities, led by the royal houses, the Otjombinde Traditional Authority is purely a traditional community and succession thereof thus is not hereditary.

This was emphasised during the coronation to eliminate future claims by the descendants of the incumbent as has been the case currently with some relatives of the late Chief Eliphas Tjingaete claiming the right of ascendancy to the leadership of the community by virtue of their relations by descent and birth to the late Eliphas Tjingaete.

But in the true vogue of the tradition of this traditional authority of not being hereditary, Eliphas Tjingaete was succeeded upon his death in 1993 by Chief Fanuel Tumbee Tjombe who passed on in July 2014.

However, the recently appointed and just installed Boas Roree Tjingaete is the son of the late Eliphas Tjingaete. Hence the need for the authority to categorically state that he by no means ascended to the leadership of the community and traditional authority by means of his association to his late father, but purely because the community anointed him on merit, and more so because hereditariness has no place within the leadership of the Otjombinde Traditional Authority.

This is because this authority is not royal and thus not hereditary in its origin but purely one that has been established by the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu communities who trekked to the Otjombinde communal area in the Otjombinde Constituency of the Omaheke Region. This was in the late 1960s and early 1970s from predominantly the communal areas of Epukiro and Aminuis (Omongua) in what was then known as Ovaherero Land East.

The Traditional Authorities Act of 2000 provides that a traditional community, which can be either based on royalty or purely on the interests of a particular social grouping, like in the case of the Otjombinde Traditional Community in this instance, shall designate “one person from the royal family”, as head, that is in the case of a royal traditional community, or any member of that traditional community if it is not royal.

Witnessing the coronation of Chief Boas Tjingaete were, among others, the Governor of Kavango East, Dr Samuel Mbambo, a personal friend of the just installed chief; Otjombinde Constituency Councillor, Karii Marenga; Member of Parliament, Asser Mbai; Ovaherero Paramount Chief, Vekuii Rukoro; Ovambanderu Paramount Chief Karikondua Nguvauva and Swapo Party of Namibia Omaheke Coordinator, Kejamuina Mungendje.