Hertta-Maria Amutenja
The Oshakati High Court will this morning hear a matter in which the Ongandjera Traditional Authority is suing City Police Head of Legal Affairs, Senior Superintendent Eliaser Iiyambo and his brother Simon Iyambo for failing to comply with an order directing them to return their late uncle’s homestead keys to his widow, who they reportedly evicted from his home.
The Traditional Authority approached the High Court, seeking an order that would compel the two brothers to return the keys to their late uncle Daniel Uutoni’s homestead to his widow, Aili Iilende.
Iilende, who hails from Okathitukambanda village near Okahao said in court documents that her late husband‘s nephews, Simon and Eliaser Iyambo, kicked her and her three children out of the homestead after Uutoni, who was a Dentist passed away in March 2019.
The couple got married in June 2018 and have been living at their common homestead in the Okathitukambanda village. Iilende in court documents says the Iiyambo brothers are now unlawfully occupying the premises, despite the land being allocated to her as Uutoni’s surviving spouse as provided for under the Communal Land Reform Act.
According to the Traditional Authority, the brothers removed and evicted the widow from her farming units and residential units at Etunda and Olundjuda villages.
“They removed her movable property and her other belongings from the residential units and farming unit. They locked Iilende out of and from the premises and rendered them inaccessible to Iilende,” the Traditional Authority argued. It is further the Traditional Authority’s position that on 30 October 2020, they held a hearing in the presence of the Iiyambo brothers, Iilende and their witnesses, after which they ordered that Iilende should receive land rights as Uutoni’s surviving spouse and provide her with the peaceful and undisturbed possession of the residential units and farming units within 30 days of the hearing.
The Traditional Authority and the king, Johaness Mupiya further ruled that the brothers should allow Iilende access to the properties. However, despite the ruling, the brothers refuse to submit to the orders. The two brothers have also been evicted from the residential unit in Olundjinda, according to the Traditional Authority.
In their defence, the Iyambo brothers said they lived together with Uutoni for most of his life and thy he was never allocated the farming and residential units at Olunjinda village. They further claim that the property belongs to Eliaser, according to customary law.
They further claimed in respect to the farming and residential unit at Etunda village, it was customarily allocated years ago to another late uncle of theirs, Eino Iilende.
