|
Thursday, July 29, 2004 - Web
posted at 9:56:47 GMT
New Hai-//om traditional
authority eyes Etosha
TANGENI AMUPADHI
IN the 1950s,
the colonial South African government expelled the Hai-//om San from the
Etosha National Park, an ancestral habitat they had occupied for centuries.
Half a century
later, the Hai-//om, one of the groups who lived in what is still the Etosha
National Park, believe they have entered an era of land restitution following
Government's recognition of their tribal authority.
Yesterday
Government issued a group of the Hai-//om from Outjo a letter recognising them
as a traditional authority, like the rest of Namibia's main ethnic groups.
But another group
from Tsintsabes at Oshikoto immediately rejected the recognition.
They claimed it
was issued for political reasons and that the so-called traditional authority
was nothing but a Swapo structure.
When Deputy
Minister of Regional, Local Government and Housing Gerhard Tötemeyer, handed
the letter to the Hai-//om from Outjo, he declared that "traditional
authorities have been released out of colonial manipulation", a reference
to how the old regimes used tribal leaders for political gain.
Newly recognised
Hai-//om Chief Dawif Khamuxab said he felt empowered by the new status to take
up the lost land issue with central Government.
"We will be
talking to the Government to get land near the park so that our children can
learn the ways of the bush for the survival of our traditions, language and
culture," said Khamuxab.
Joram |Useb, who
said he had been mandated by the Hai-//om community at Tsintsabes, yesterday
criticised the recognition.
He charged that
Government had ignored their objections.
He said the Outjo
group had disregarded calls for a democratic process to pick a leader.
"We have no
problem with the Hai-//om to be recognised but this structure is not
representative.
It is only people
from Outjo who are mostly affiliated to Swapo," said |Useb.
|Useb said that
since their colonial expulsion, between 8 000 and 11 000 Hai-//om were now
scattered over the Kunene, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshikoto and Otjozondjupa
regions.
"It is not
for the Government to recognise people's traditional authorities.
It should be the
people who choose their leaders.
We have to come
together as the Hai-//om community to decide how to elect our leaders.
I believe that it
[the recognition] has caused more splits in the community," said |Useb.
Khamuxab confirmed
that they were living at Outjo and that other members of the ethnic group were
scattered across parts of northern Namibia.
He said the most
important issue on his agenda was now to get his people together and to
preserve their culture and language.
Etosha was
declared a protected area in 1907 and some communities lost their land in the
name of wildlife conservation and tourism.
Namibia has no
clear policy on land restitution specifically for communities who were driven
from ancestral land during colonialism.
Tötemeyer said
the issue of land would have to be dealt with through the Ministry of Lands,
Resettlement and Rehabilitation.
Several years ago,
a group of Hai-//om people blockaded the entrance to Etosha demanding the
right to live off the game in the park.
They were charged
with trespassing, but the case was not followed through.
|