WINDHOEK – A court case in which acting High Court Judge, Kobus Miller, is asked to determine the validity of an agreement signed between the kings of the Ondonga and Oukwanyama traditional authorities in 2004 was postponed yesterday to October 08.
The matter has already involved State House and the National Traditional Council who were asked by Judge Miller to make submissions on the issue.
The issue is about an agreement signed on March 14, 2004 between Ondonga King Immanuel Kauluma Elifas and the late Oukwanyama King Kornelius Shelungu that was supposed to settle a border dispute.
Namibia’s president at the time, Dr Sam Nujoma, was signatory to the agreement. The Oukwanyama Traditional Authority claims that the agreement is not binding as King Shelungu was critically ill and frail at the time he put pen on the dotted line of the agreement.
In an affidavit signed by deputy chairperson, George Nelulu, the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority says if the agreement is enforced it will allow the transfer of large tracts of communal land to the jurisdiction of the Ondonga Traditional Authority.
Nelulu also claims in his affidavit that the late king was not authorised by any community meeting or by the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority to sign such an agreement, and that he informed the Ondonga Traditional Authority that the agreement was invalid as soon as he realised the implications of the agreement he had signed.
The Ondonga Traditional Authority is asking the court to declare the agreement signed as valid, binding and enforceable.
In terms of the agreement, the Oshuuthiya area in the far eastern part of the Ohangwena Region was designated as the border between the two traditional authorities’ disputed areas of jurisdiction. The area north of Oshuuthiya, up to Namibia’s border with Angola, was designated as falling under the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority, while the area to the south of Oshuuthiya was identified as falling under the Ondonga Traditional Authority. Lawyer Norman Tjombe appeared on behalf of the Ondonga Traditional Authority and Senior Counsel Gerson Hinda for the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority on instructions from Sisa Namandje.