Uukwangali chieftaincy dispute back in court

By Confidente Reporter

TWENTY-THREE disgruntled members of the Uukwangali Traditional Authority have one’s again approached the Windhoek High Court, in a bid to nullify the chieftain­ship of Eugene Siwombe Kudumo.
Kudumo was sworn in as chief in May this year, following a two-year conflict for the chieftainship. He succeeded the late Hompa Sitentu Daniel Mpasi, who died in 2014. The chieftainship wrangle started when the late Mpasi allegedly publicly chose him as heir to the throne.
A pressure group within the tradition­al authority has since claimed that he was not appointed procedurally.
The matter was heard in the High Court several times, with Kudumo’s ap­pointment having been set aside in 2015, but he continued to act in the position.
In an affidavit filed at the court in May, Urban and Rural Development Minis­ter, Sophia Shaningwa, is listed as first respondent, the authority as second, and Kudumo as the third. President Hage Geingob is cited as fourth respondent, while Kavango West Regional Gover­nor, Sirrka Ausiku, is the fifth.
The court documents reveal that the 23 applicants are requesting the court set aside Shaningwa’s decision to designate Kudumo as chief.
Following Kudumo’s claiming the chieftaincy, the applicants initially wrote a petition to former Urban and Rural development Minister, Charles Namo­loh, complaining about his statements.
When Shaningwa took over the min­istry, a letter was written to her on 7 April 2015, requesting a meeting con­cerning the chieftainship.
The applicants say they were taken aback when they learnt that Kudumo would be inaugurated on 25 April 2015.
They claim that Shaningwa had re­sponded in a letter saying that no ap­proval was given for the inauguration, and that she had not requested prior no­tification, as required by the Traditional Authorities Act.
Shaningwa at the time had also ap­pointed an investigation committee to probe the dispute.
“As a result of the undertaking to ap­point an investigation committee, which we in fact requested in our petition of 10 March 2015, we were under the assump­tion that the inauguration of the third respondent as the Chief of the Uukwan­gali community will not proceed, or if his inauguration proceeds, it will not have any force or effect…
“However, to our surprise we learnt from other community members and from the media reports that the purport­ed inauguration of the third respondent did indeed take place on Saturday, 25 April 2015. We were further surprised that the first respondent attended the purported inauguration in her official capacity and read a message on behalf of the President of Namibia at the event,” the court documents state.