Senior headman rejects tribalism charges

The head of the Uukwanambwa District of the Ondonga Traditional Authority, senior headman Wilhelm Lidker, has dismissed allegations levelled against him by a group of villagers who accuse him of tribalism and autocratic leadership. Lidker is accused of making inflammatory statements directed at non-Oshindonga-speaking residents, mostly singling out the Oshikwanyama-speaking villagers whom he allegedly labels as ‘aliens’ who are trying to interfere in the affairs of the Ondonga tribe. The conflict erupted earlier this year when Lidker presented Johannes Ekaku as new headman of Onyati-B village in the Oshikoto Region, replacing Johannes Niiye who died in 1994. Onyati-B has been without a leader of its own and the headman of the neighbouring Onyati-A has acted as the leader of both villages for the past 20 years. Senior headman Lidker presented the new headman to the Onyati-B community at a meeting held on January 13, but the community allegedly did not accept him and pleaded with Lidker to rather appoint someone from the village. They argued that Ekaku is from the faraway Onalukula village, does not know the Onyati-B villagers and the villagers do know him either. They proposed Martin Paulus Niiye as their new leader but this was rejected by Lidker, who went ahead and installed Ekaku at a March 22 ceremony that was mostly boycotted by villagers. Several community meetings were held and letters written to the Ondonga Traditional Authority, the Onyaanya Constituency councillor and the office of the regional governor. But what really transformed the simmering tension into an open confrontation was a community meeting held on March 23, a day after the installation of Ekaku. Senior headman Lidker arrived uninvited after he was apparently tipped off about the meeting. He castigated the 37 villagers who attended the meeting for failing to attend the previous day’s installation ceremony. He then divided the meeting-goers into two separate groups – one group for Oshindonga-speaking people and the other group for Oshikwanyama-speaking people. Turning to the later group, he asked them one by one where they were born and after labelling them as “puppets” he allegedly told them to stop interfering in the affairs of Ondonga. He allegedly said that those who are unhappy with the new headman are free to emigrate “to Outjo”. The villagers are also accusing the new headman of starting on a wrong note, fencing off a public water point and reallocating land that was already allocated by his predecessor. Even an open field that was used as a soccer pitch is now allocated to a Pentecostal church and soccer players are no longer allowed to use it. When approached for comment, Lidker said he merely pointed out that those who opposed the new headman are mostly Oshikwanyama-speaking, but denied that he had ordered them to emigrate. “I also did not label them as puppets. I merely used the word as an example to warn them not to allow themselves to be used by people who have a hidden agenda,” he said. However, a new policy is now in place according to which Oshikwanyama-speaking people who reside in the Ondonga tribal area no longer qualify for leadership positions and those who already hold such positions are being replaced gradually. According to this policy, every Oshikwanyama-speaking headman who dies must be replaced by an Oshindonga-speaking headman, even if that means bringing one in from another village. Lidker is adamant that his appointment of Ekaku as headman of Onyati-B is irreversible. “I was ordered by the King of Ondonga to install Ekaku as village headman. That is what I did and that is irreversible,” he said. ONDANGWA PLACIDO HILUKILWA