Resident of Ondobe village in the Ohangwena region, through their headman, Mandume Kaulinge, are demanding the restitution of two plots of land.
They say the plots were allegedly illegally seized from them by the former chairman of the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority, George Nelulu.
The two pieces of land were allegedly handed over on 2 October 2020 – one to Etope village within the Ondonga Traditional Authority and the other to Oilyateko village in the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority.
In a complaint letter written by Kaulinge on Friday, he said villagers say Nelulu has no right to cede their land to other villages.
Kaulinge says the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority is not helping to resolve the issue.
“When Ondobe village was established in 1925, this piece of land at Etope village was allocated to Hamukwaya Nangonya. Nangonya’s mahangu field is on the border between Oukwanyama and Ondonga,” he says.
“The headman at he time, reverend Vilho Kaulinge, reasoned that if left unattended, that piece of land may create future conflict between Oukwanyama and Ondonga.
“The headman and his delegation therefore had to pay a visit to then Ondonga King Martin Kadikwa, in order to discuss the land question,” he says.
Kaulinge says the king gave the land to Ondobe within the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority.
“Although Nelulu was suspended from his work as senior councillor by the traditional authority because of misconduct, the illegal deed was unfortunately not reversed,” he says.
The piece of land that was transferred to Oilyateko village in Oukwanyama was in 1992 given to a group of women who requested land from the late Ondobe headman Sam Kaulinge.
The headman allegedly gave the women permission to occupy the land to raise chickens.
“After a few years, the poultry project failed to take flight. Instead, for the women to return the land to the Ondobe village. Nelulu illegally erected a fence around the land and started selling pieces of it to three businessmen,” Kaulinge says.
The issue was then taken to the Ohangwena Land Board, and instruction was given for Nelulu to immediately remove the illegal fence.
“This very much angered Nelulu . . . He then decided to transfer this land to Oilyateko to the Ondonga Traditional Authority,” Kaulinge says.
He says villagers are disappointed with the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority.
“We will not rest until our land is restored,” he says.
‘LETS MEET’
Nelulu this week said the headmen of the Etope, Omunyekadi, Oilyateko and Ondobe villages must show the media their village boundaries.
He said the boundaries are clear, and that a delegation from the Ondonga Traditional Authority visited the Oukwanyama Traditional Authority in 2018 to ask for their land.
“I told them I also heard the land belongs to the Ondonga Traditional Authority, but it is under one of my headmen’s leadership in Oukwanyama.
“I pleaded with them that the land remain part of Oukwanayama, but they refused,” he said.
“The land they claim I gave away was given to three women for a chicken project, of which I was a member.
“The former headman was at Swakopmund, and when he returned he started demanding the land, and that’s where it started,” he said.
Nelulu said official documents show how the land was allocated.
Oukwanyama Traditional Authority spokesperson Andrew Naikaku says the matter is outside of his jurisdiction.
Oukwanyama Traditional Authority chairman Elias Waandja this week said the matter was resolved between both authorities in October 2020.
He said a formal letter was sent to the Ondobe headman, confirming that after investigations the land was given back to the Ondonga Traditional Authority.
Leave a Reply