High Court rejects Katjiua

Chief Vipuira Kapuuo, the chairperson of the Chiefs Council of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA), scored a victory in the High Court on Tuesday afternoon when the court dismissed an urgent application by Professor Mutjinde Katjiua to prohibit him from hosting a Chiefs Council&#039;s meeting. The meeting nonetheless took place last weekend. Yesterday, High Court judge Herman Oosthuizen ordered that Katjua does not have the right or locus standi that is held by a Paramount Chief (PC) to bring the application to court and has also not established a clear right to ask for any interdictions. He added that a chief or head of a traditional community should, according to the existing Traditional Authority Act, be designated as such. The High Court also ordered Katjiua to, in his personal capacity, pay Kapuuo’s legal costs, which would include one instructing and two instructed councils. The case was struck off the roll.Katjiua last week lodged an urgent application with the High Court to interdict Kapuuo from convening a Chiefs Council meeting, prevent him from diverting funds - distributed by the ministry of urban and rural development - meant for the OTA and to stop him from acting as the authorised person to deal with the OTA’s administrative matters or as the acting PC. ‘Unlawful conduct’In his founding affidavit, Katjiua pointed out that Kapuuo wished to overturn decisions that were already taken by the Chiefs Council by convening another meeting, and induct himself as acting PC.“If Kapuuo were to succeed in his unlawful conduct, it would render the application instituted by review by himself academic and would have serious reputational damage to the OTA and myself as [the] duly elected PC, not to mention the disharmony and division that is caused by Kapuuo’s undermining [of] the senate and the Chiefs Council’s decisions to date,” he said. jemima@namibiansun.com.na

High Court rejects Katjiua

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Namibian Sun 2022-07-07

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High Court rejects Katjiua

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Namibian Sun 2022-07-07

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