Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako shares his reading of how recognition of traditional leaders will be used to disposses Ovaherero of their land

Eight years since Ovaherero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako died in Windhoek and his clairvoyance remains unmistaken.Ombara Otjitambi yOvaherero read the signs of Namibia’s new politics and shrunk to fear knowing how his communities were on the eve of their marginalisation.

He had resisted to the deadline to file for recognition as Ombara Otjitambi of Ovaherero Traditional Authority and when they finally did at the last minute, it was in protest.

Ombara Riruako knew that the new administration would use recognition as a tool to co-opt leaders in the Ovaherero community it would use to launch a long campaign of quietly disenfranchising Ovaherero and rewarding collaborators.

It would take Ombara Otjitambi Riruako and Ovahererero Traditional Authority (OTA) 24 years from independence to gain formal recognition. And even when they were recognised as they have now, the Paramountcy’s sphere of influence, which should cover all areas of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa has been limited to the Aminuis Constituency of Omaheke Region.

More and more land in towns and settlement that Ovaherero held or lost to pre-independence white regimes systematically fell to one community that never lost ancestral land. In areas like Kunene,  where pre-independence borders were clearly defined, Himba, Dhemba and Tjimba areas of erstwhile Kunene Land have fallen and so too many areas in the Kavango regions.

The only clear flare up over land recorded in recent years was the incident at Gam. As Ovaherero remember Paramount Chief Riruako, the community confronts a stark reminder that its systems of administration, its values and ethos and the corner stones of its livelihood will constantly face confrontation and erosion.

Even as the community had had a crusader in Ombara Riruako, the path with or without him and the odds have appeared inclined towards Ovaherero’s annihilation.