EDITORIAL: Mbumba’s meetings should birth solutions
The frosty relations between the government and traditional leaders may change for the better as a result of President Nangolo Mbumba's series of meetings with them in recent weeks.
Government’s ivory-tower attitude with these leaders is what made relations salty, and for too long. The politicisation of the process to appoint traditional leaders, where those who lean to the ruling party are guaranteed government backing in succession battles, is one of the contemporary thorny issues.
Government’s involvement in who is the rightful heir to traditional thrones, completely ignoring the sanctity and sentimental cultural norms in those communities, exceeds acceptable boundaries.
Successive ministers of urban and rural development have lost cases in court for imposing leaders on people because of political and other biases. In 2022, for example, government impounded the official vehicle of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, on the request of one of the warring factions, leaving the proverbial grass suffering.
Mbumba must prove that his meetings with traditional leaders are not a silent tactic to canvas for votes or to paint government in a positive light ahead of elections in November. In 2009, Jerry Ekandjo – as local government minister – was widely criticised for handing over bakkies to traditional leaders just days before the general election, which Swapo feared it may lose to the then-hyped Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). The president’s meetings should therefore produce better understanding and mutual respect between government and traditional leaders – even amid perpetual and unnecessary reminders by government leaders that “Namibia is not a kingdom”.
Government’s ivory-tower attitude with these leaders is what made relations salty, and for too long. The politicisation of the process to appoint traditional leaders, where those who lean to the ruling party are guaranteed government backing in succession battles, is one of the contemporary thorny issues.
Government’s involvement in who is the rightful heir to traditional thrones, completely ignoring the sanctity and sentimental cultural norms in those communities, exceeds acceptable boundaries.
Successive ministers of urban and rural development have lost cases in court for imposing leaders on people because of political and other biases. In 2022, for example, government impounded the official vehicle of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, on the request of one of the warring factions, leaving the proverbial grass suffering.
Mbumba must prove that his meetings with traditional leaders are not a silent tactic to canvas for votes or to paint government in a positive light ahead of elections in November. In 2009, Jerry Ekandjo – as local government minister – was widely criticised for handing over bakkies to traditional leaders just days before the general election, which Swapo feared it may lose to the then-hyped Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). The president’s meetings should therefore produce better understanding and mutual respect between government and traditional leaders – even amid perpetual and unnecessary reminders by government leaders that “Namibia is not a kingdom”.
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