Nujoma won’t buckle under pressure

In an interview with Namibian Sun yesterday, Nujoma’s aide John Nauta confirmed that the former president will be the keynote speaker during the official ceremony of the Olufuko Festival scheduled to be held in Outapi between August 21-27. Nujoma was also earlier named the Patron of the festival.

According to Nauta the controversy is the result of a misunderstanding of what is actually planned.

“No Olufuko as such will take place at Outapi. What will happen is an exhibition of what the traditional rites of Olufuko were like,” he said.

Nauta was commenting on a recent statement issued by the All Pastors General Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) in which the church appealed to its members to distance themselves from any Olufuko practice.

Nauta accused ELCIN of condemning something it does not understand.

“God is not against African cultures and in favour of European cultures,” he said.

“The church’s statement is wrong. Those Europeans who brought the church to Africa maintain and promote their own cultures while abolishing African culture.” Nauta added that there is nothing wrong with showing what Olufuko used to be like.

“There are proper procedures to be followed before any Olufuko event and what is happening at Outapi is not Olufuko proper, but an exhibition of Olufuko,” he said.

“You cannot enlist girls for Olufuko just like that. There are proper procedures to be followed before Olufuko can be had,” he said.

Nauta compared the Olufuko Festival to the traditional Omaongo and cattle festivals and asked: “If no one believes that such traditional festivals are sinful, why single out Olufuko?”