King Elifas faces embarrassment

The government and the Ondonga traditional leaders are burning the midnight oil in a bid to save King Immanuel Kauluma Elifas from potential embarrassment when he takes the stand in the Oshakati High Court. Several high-placed sources have confirmed to Namibian Sun that there was intense behind-the-scenes manoeuvring to avert the king's court appearance in connection with an application brought by dismissed Ondonga councillors against his decision to fire them.

The dismissed councillors were summoned by President Hage Geingob to State House last week, where discussions centred on the protection of the king's dignity, according to sources. Geingob is also set to meet a delegation of the opposition faction, who have now taken the place of the fired aides of the king.

The king's spokesperson, Naeman Amalwa, said they could not meet Geingob last week due to a prior engagement and because they had not been officially invited to State House at that stage.

“When I notified the king's council they said that we must not go until they invited us officially and that must be after Saturday's meeting,” Amalwa said.





Geingob's intervention followed that of Founding President Sam Nujoma, who had met with the king days before the State House meeting. Nujoma had apparently admonished and chided the dismissed leaders for dragging the king to court and also for lodging an application to have him testify.

Oshakati High Court Judge Maphios Cheda recently granted an order compelling Elifas to give oral testimony in the matter in which the councillors are challenging their dismissal. Cheda ordered that the legal teams set a date within 14 days on which the king would be required to testify.

The king's legal team had unsuccessfully argued that the application to have the king testify was an attempt to test his mental capabilities in an open court.

“All that Geingob wants is to uphold King Elifas's dignity. The first thing the president asked the delegation was what they were doing to protect the king's dignity. He said that the king is a dignified man and cannot be embarrassed by taken to court,” a source privy to the State House meeting said.

In letters addressed to the two factions, Geingob made it clear that he was not interfering with the functions of the judiciary.

“I am engaging you, and thereafter with your adversaries, from the point of view of a person who seeks to ensure that the dignity of Tatekulu Kauluma (Elifas) is not negated by having him paraded in court of law and embarrassed in front of his people,” read the letters.

“Somehow it just does not feel right to me as the president of this nation, who is personally known to Omukwaniilwa (king), his family and the wider Ondonga community leadership.”

Vilho Kamanya, who spoke on behalf of the dismissed leaders, said they returned from State House happy.

“The message is very clear and the Ondonga community must be at peace. All that was going on about our firing was lies. We engaged the president and his delegation and we return happily,” Kamanya said.

The dismissed councillors are former traditional authority chairperson Peter Kauluma, former secretary Joseph Asino, senior headman for the Ondangwa district John Walenga, Kamanya, Kashona kaMalulu, Tonata Ngulu and Fillemon Nambili.

Although they are still gazetted, the king has replaced the dismissed councillors with new councillors, including Nujoma's former bodyguard, Nepando Amupanda.