Traditional succession races in Namibia

DISGRUNTLED NATIVE WRITES:

It came to my mind, what makes traditional succession races so difficult in Namibia?

I’ve realized that the majority of the tribes don’t have either a documented Customary Law or are sitting with distorted histories. There are claims of royal houses where they don’t exist at all.

The other major contributing factor is the question of inter-marriages, which have diminished the royal blood lines.

The other worrying fact is that the Traditional Authorities Act No. 25 of 2000 is silent on the issue of succession. It is probably a very good thing, so that the Government doesn’t intervene in the in-house affairs of the respective traditional communities too.

In some traditions children born from females are more important than those born from male hierarchy. However, this is much disputed, as some tribes are copying the traditions and cultures of other tribes, which is causing inconsistency in their own tradition, culture and customs.

The administration of some Traditional Authorities is a very pathetic crisis. Many are disregarding the administrative guidelines prescribed in the Traditional Authorities Act, viz. the establishment and composition of the Board of Trustees in terms of Section 5; taking of minutes and the subsequent producing thereof at meetings and the pre-requisite submission of audited financial reports in terms of Section 10 of the Act.

Why should they be allowed to embezzle and squander public funds and resources without accounting and go scot-free? What makes them so untouchable?

I am telling you that pragmatic and holistic approaches are needed to introduce fundamental transformations and to rescue the Traditional Authorities from cultural disarray and social decay.

I think about 8 to 10 chiefs have passed away just during this year alone. I wonder how many of them have been replaced?

Customary Laws aren’t crystal clear about succession and it just erupts into renewed traditional division, disputes, vacuums, deficits and leadership squabbles. In my personal view, chiefs/headmen should be replaced within 90days, as it is the case with all the political office-bearers, unless their Customary Laws dictate otherwise.

The surviving Acting Chiefs and Deputy Captains are not as clean as we might desire. In the absence of the deceased chiefs some are conveniently continuing with those perilous, coercive and hegemonic corrupt actions.

As a matter of principle, the Government should force the respective Traditional Authorities to document their Customary Laws in close consultations with their respective communities.

We know that proclivity that African leaders don’t want to relinquish power, unless by death.

The Government has enacted Section 8 of the Traditional Authorities Act, which deals with the “removal of a chief/headman from office”, but which they are reluctant to implement or impose. The recent Hompa funding is another thorn in the eyes of many traditional authorities, which the leaders want to squander first, before being removed.

These are serious matters of concern to many traditional communities and requires the immediate strategic intervention of the Government and in particular the Line-Ministry, being Urban and Rural Development.