Martin Endjala
Residents of the Uis district in the Daures constituency in the Erongo region have threatened to shut down the Daure Daman Traditional Authority (TA) after expressing dissatisfaction with the chief’s leadership.
Last year, the group petitioned the Traditional Authority and accused the Chief of the Daure Daman Traditional Authority, Sagarias Seibeb, of illegally awarding land and licenses to foreign investors for mining exploration purposes in the constituency behind closed doors.
They also accused Seibeb of pushing his own political agenda to please those in his circle at the expense of community members.
They have yet to receive a response to the petition.
Jimmy Areseb, the spokesperson for the concerned community members, informed the Windhoek Observer on Wednesday that the chief’s delay tactics had left them with no other option but to take further action.
“Since last year, this chief has been tight-lipped about the allegations from the members of his community, which elected him in the first place. But he is now turning a blind eye to serious allegations. We just want him to talk to us about the issues we have raised so that we can find amicable solutions,” he said.
Areseb said their frustration stems from the fact that outsiders are given land in the constituency while many of the community members do not even have land. The chief’s lack of transparency, he said, further exacerbates their frustration.
He argues that the chief’s arrogance in not consulting the community on deals or projects brought to the Traditional Authority’s office has now led to the community members’ issuing a vote of no confidence in the leadership and handing their petition to the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development minister, Erastus Uutoni.
According to him, the minister dispatched a team to investigate the allegations and they have been waiting for a response from the ministry since last year.
“Enough is enough, come what may. Today, we will go to the traditional council’s office, close it down, and hand in our petition again. If the chief is not there, we will go to the festival and hand it over there. As a concerned community, we agreed on 18 May at our meeting that enough is enough,” said Areseb.
As a result, they have written a letter dated 19 May, indicating their intention to protest on 25 May against what he termed disuniting issues of consent letters without proper consultation and research leading to illegal mining activities in the community.
The community further states that the operations of the TA office are done in isolation.
They also allege mismanagement of funds of the traditional community, misuse of the traditional authority office, ignorance, and arrogance further disregarding the issues and concerns affecting the community, to mention a few.
“We also emphasise that we have raised these issues with various responsible authorities, including the MURD. The current Daure Daman TA has deliberately ignored the letter forwarded to them by the ministry to clarify issues raised by the community yet continues to carry on its operations as if nothing is wrong,” he argued.
Cornelia Atjiwara, another concerned community member, has been in contact with the MURD’s investigating team.
She voiced her frustration towards the investigating team, who kept pushing and shifting her in different directions, in what she labelled as an attempt to make her lose hope.
She was hopeful that their petition and the investigation outcome would reach the minister. But in reality, the document that the minister has is from another traditional authority and not that of the Daure Daman. She said over 500 members have signed the petition.
“They made me run around for nothing when nothing had been done. As community members, we will not give in to their delay tactics.
Denise Dausas, another concerned member, said they are willing to put their lives on the line to fight for justice.
She said the narrative that they were going to let it go won’t happen, and come Friday, they will not vacate the premises until the TA office is closed.
“We no longer have confidence in his leadership and his daughter Aldema /Uises, who is her secretary, and both of them are just messing up”, she said.
Text messages and calls to both /Uises and the minister proved futile at the time of publication.
