Mushelenga enrages Witboois

A meeting held last week between urban and rural development minister Peya Mushelenga and the /Khowese Traditional Authority, also known as the Witboois, has apparently enraged the authority's elders.Mushelenga had met with the authority to resolve a succession dispute.“Today I came to solve the dispute and after today there will be no discussion about the issue as to who is the successor in the Witbooi leadership,” Mushelenga allegedly told the disputing factions within the /Khowese clan, whom he had called to Mariental for a meeting.According to elders of the clan, who chose and installed the former Namibian ambassador to Zambia, Salomon Josephat Witbooi, as the ninth kaptein of the /Khowese in 2015, the minister came to “dictate to them that succession within their clan should follow the paternal lineage”.The clan says Mushelenga only came to talk about Johannes Richter's withdrawal of his nomination of Ismael Witbooi as candidate to succeed the late Reverend Hendrik Witbooi, who died in 2009, as chief of the /Khowese. They say according to the minister the paternal lineage of succession must be followed. The minister allegedly said that Richter's letter, which was served on the president, the vice-president, the line minister and the former secretary-general of Swapo, was never served on Ismael and therefore was null and void.“This is because Ismael was kept in the dark about the withdrawal of his nomination. Fairness required that he ought to have been informed,” Mushelenga was quoted as saying.When approached for comment, Mushelenga told Namibian Sun that at the meeting he had with both factions in the presence of the governor of the Hardap Region, Esme Isaacks, it became clear that succession was in accordance with the patrilineal line, but that the clan maintained both matrilineal and patrilineal lines were used.“Based on that I will compile a report and will forward it to the attorney-general for legal advice,” he emphasised.According to him people are lying if they say he came with a predetermined decision as to who should be the chief. He stressed that he wanted correct procedure to be followed.“If customs are customs they must be followed over a long period of time. I am not here to be used by anyone. We experienced that feuding factions over traditional leadership in this country take chances when there are new ministers appointed, just to be recognised at the expense of others,” he said. Pineas Eduard Topnaar, spokesperson of the /Khowese, on Thursday said they had no option but to challenge the minister in a court of law.Mushelenga is said to have declared as null and void Richter's letter withdrawing the nomination of Ismael to the clan's chieftainship. Richter distanced himself from Ismael a few years ago and threw his weight behind the royal house.Topnaar explained that the /Khowese, a sub-clan of the Nama, long ago deviated from the traditional paternal lineage of succession. Their succession processes continuously underwent changes over more than a century due to political and social circumstances in the country, he said.The hereditary succession within the clan leadership was changed to soft- and hard-line categories which were recommended by Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi. This was based on his experience with the influence exerted by the Rhenish missionaries in the country and later on, the German colonial regime.He recommended that after his demise one of his sons should head the “soft side”, which included church and school, while other one should head the clan's traditional leadership. This changed in 1978 after the late Reverend Hendrik Witbooi, who descended from the “soft side”, was seen by the elders as the only ideal candidate to take up the responsibility of authority leadership. FRED GOEIEMAN

Mushelenga enrages Witboois

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-14

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Mushelenga enrages Witboois

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-14

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