Windhoek
Omaheke Governor Festus Ueitele yesterday said he is still pondering his options whether to apologise to the Ovaherero or not as instructed by President Hage Geingob last week.
“I will let you know in due course whether I will apologise or not, just give me time,” Ueitele said when contacted for comment yesterday.
He came under fire after a widely circulated audio had him saying some members of the Ovaherero community are backstabbers, practise double standards and do not seem to respect other tribes.
“I don’t want to be tribal, but what I can tell you is that Hereros are the sort of people who do not respect other tribes. Hereros are backstabbers,” Ueitele is heard saying.
Geingob last week instructed Ueitele to issue a public apology to the Ovaherero in the Omaheke Region where Ueitele triggered a tribal storm.
In a statement issued by the press secretary in the Office of the President, Albertus Aochamub, Geingob “instructed the Governor to take concrete steps to calm the situation by issuing a public apology to the Ovaherero Community to restore the spirit of peace, unity and trust within the Omaheke Region.”
The Presidency said the apology is necessitated after recent media reports on the impasse between the Office of the Governor and the Ovaherero community.
In his letter to Ueitele, Geingob states that the “nation has been inundated with various stories in the media about the contentious situation that currently exists in Omaheke. Further, I have been made aware of certain falsehoods regarding my meeting with you on these matters and what I am alleged to have said.”