Bondelswarts dispute rages on

The Bondelswarts Traditional Authority is still embroiled in a bitter battle over the chieftainship despite clear instructions from the former minister of urban and rural development, Sophia Shaningwa.Shaningwa had instructed in January 2017 already that Nathanael Christiaan be installed as the chief of the Bondelswarts. In March that year the traditional authority's chairperson, Jims Christiaans, wrote back to the minister to inform her that Nathanael was to be installed as the new chief in May.This never happened according to Ignatius Berend, who claims that there was an unlawful inauguration of Johannes Matroos instead. This matter was before the Karasburg Magistrate's Court last Friday but was postponed to 5 November. “Because we do not have a properly instituted chief we do not have an operational trust fund. Nothing is happening in the customary court. We cannot do anything without a chief. We cannot get proper representation on the genocide negotiations and the upcoming land conference,” Berend said. The dispute started after the death of the late Kaptein Anna Katrina Christiaan in 2011. She was the first female chief of the Bondelswarts, since the community's customary law succession rule is based on patrilineal lineage.The dispute relates to the eligibility of Nathanael, the son of Anna Katrina, and the underaged Denzyl Christiaan, the son of the late acting chief Josef Christiaan, who died in 2015.Shaningwa sent an investigating team to Karasburg in 2016, which recommended that Matroos, a “non-royal person” was “inappropriately” standing in as chief for the young Denzyl, while Nathanael, who is part of the royal bloodline, was disregarded for the captaincy or as the acting captain. Shaningwa then declared that the royal house should agree to install Nathanael and make arrangements to revert to the Bondelswarts' patrilineal succession once Denzyl was mature enough – about 25 years of age – to take up the ruling position, if he should be interested.She said if the royal family were to fail to resolve the matter, they should seek assistance from the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA). TRADITIONAL DISPUTESOne of the pertinent matters being discussed at the 21st annual meeting of the Council of Traditional Leaders currently taking place in Windhoek is the constant bickering over leadership positions.The new urban and rural development minister, Peya Mushelenga, was supposed to address the meeting about this matter yesterday, but he apparently did not. He did, however, bemoan the disputes at the opening of the meeting and said the issue had resulted in stagnation in traditional authorities.He said this had compelled the ministry to investigate some of these issues, but these authorities' failure to honour the decisions and recommendations of such investigations wasted public resources. “It is our preference to allow traditional matters to be resolved in terms of customary laws. But this can only be achieved with cooperation from the members of the traditional authorities. Failure in this regard has always led to litigation where matters are put before the judiciary for adjudication. The decisions of the courts are binding and the ministry will continue to strictly observe the rulings of the courts,” Mushelenga said. The deputy chairperson of the Council of Traditional Leaders, Immanuel /Gâseb, said leadership disputes might be because of globalisation where traditional leaders are being used as tools to advance personal agendas.“[As] traditional leaders we became the shadows of those with ambitions to capitalise their interests in the name of the traditional authority,” /Gâseb said, and pleaded with other traditional leaders to respect existing customary laws and to advance good governance in traditional structures.

Bondelswarts dispute rages on

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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Bondelswarts dispute rages on

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-02

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