It took warning gunshots by the police and a well-armed backup of about 100 law enforcement officers from the Gobabis police to defuse a violent tribal confrontation in Otjinene yesterday as tempers flared. The clashes were mainly between members of the Ovaherero community against the Ovazemba, Aawambo and purported illegal migrants at Otjinene.
The Otjinene settlement, a predominantly Ovaherero area located about 170 kilometres from the Omaheke region’s capital, Gobabis, was yesterday rocked by fierce tribal clashes after hundreds of local Ovaherero community members took to the streets to burn down makeshift trade stalls belonging to the Ovazemba, Aawambo and various groups of illegal migrants, who are said to mainly hail from Angola. Apart from burning the trade stalls, threats were also made on the lives of non-Ovaherero tribes, who were told by the locals to vacate Otjinene or face persecution and risk losing their homes at various informal settlements.
The incident was strongly condemned by Omaheke police regional commander commissioner Heinrich Tjiveze, who said no amount of anger should turn residents into vigilantes.
“The law is clear and does not discriminate, irrespective of who committed the crime. I strongly condemn the incident. A situation where residents take the law into their own hands should never be allowed in a democratic Namibia. Investigations are ongoing, arrests have been made, and the law will take its full course.
Allow the police and courts to do their work. As for the illegal migrants, we will also deal with them as per the provisions of the law,” Tjiveze said.
The heated tribal tension follows the death of a local Omuherero man, who last week was allegedly attacked and killed by five Aawambo men. The suspects have since been detained.
They are set to appear in court.
“I am hearing [about] tribal clashes in Otjinene and want to ask our people to desist from tribal actions against fellow Namibians. Two wrongs can’t make right. Calling on the government and the Namibian Presidency to manage the affairs of the State in a manner that doesn’t promote tribalism. We are one people,” said McHenry Venaani, the leader of the Popular Democratic Movement.
Despite the police’s prompt actions to arrest the suspects and continue with investigations into the gruesome killing of the local, Otjinene residents yesterday protested that they no longer feel safe in their homes due to ongoing alleged rogue activities by “illegal tribes in their area”.
One of the residents, 72-year-old Meriam Marenga, said that although they fully embrace the notion of One Namibia, One Nation, and are law-abiding citizens, she complained that the settlement has become unsafe due to an influx of what she terms illegal tribes.
“Every day, we see 50 to 100 new faces of people from the Angolan tribes. The number is growing daily. These are the same people who we have caught stealing our cattle and attacking residents at night. Robberies have become frequent, and every second case involves either the Angolan illegal migrants or the Ovazemba or Aawambo people. Yes, we know the police are there to maintain peace and order – but at this stage, it seems the police are doing little to assist the residents.
“Even the police themselves are aware that the cases are piling up and nothing is happening. We were left with no choice but to act on our own,” she said.
She added: “Unless something is done to address our grievances, we will continue to do whatever we have to do to ensure our safety and that of our children as a community. They [alleged illegal tribes] have now started killing our children on our home soil. That cannot be allowed and will not be allowed. Today’s activities should serve as a warning to all those who are trying to turn our settlement into a rogue place”.
Another concerned resident, 27-year-old Michael Tjaveondja, equally complained about the community’s safety and the unregulated inflow of illegal migrants, whom he accused of harassing residents and illegally setting up informal settlements and trading zones.
“They just come here from everywhere, unregulated and undocumented and start setting up settlements and trading zones without any due consideration to the residents. To be honest, the residents of Otjinene are no longer safe in their homeland. The recent killing of a community member at the hands of intruders further confirms our worries as a people.
“Our leaders and the police must urgently do something about the situation, otherwise things will get worse, as we are ready to defend our homes and properties as well as our lives,” he said.
The alleged illegal migrants are said to be mainly from the southern parts of neighbouring Angola.
They primarily consist of groups from the Ovatue, Ovakuvale, Ovazemba and Ovahakaona sub-tribes.
The migrants are scattered all over villages within the Otjinene constituency and are mostly in search of employment opportunities from the local communal farmers.
But due to a lack of economic opportunities, the migrants are allegedly resorting to livestock theft for survival, as many are being employed as cattle rustlers by the locals. Efforts to get comments from the Otjinene, Omaheke and police leadership yesterday were futile.
At the time of going to press yesterday, community members, regional council leaders and police were still locked up in a meeting to address the root causes of the tensions.