Another flag for the Ovaherero people

While ongoing power struggles within the commandos of both the Ovaherero (Red Flag) and Ovambanderu (Green Flag) traditional authorities are spilling over into the courts with no end in sight, Kakururume Kamatuka says the solution lies in the establishment of an alternative Blue Flag regiment.

Speaking to Desert Radio and The Namibian yesterday, Kamatuka, the Blue Flag spokesperson, acknowledged the prevalence of major divisions within the Ovaherero community. However, he was adamant that the onus is on those who created the mess to clean it up.

“The people who continue to propel these divisions are among us and it is up to them to rectify the situation. We will not cultivate where we did not plant. We are onto something that is yet to be tainted with the aim of promoting the interest of the Ovaherero people as a collective,” Kamatuka said.

Denouncing claims that the establishment of the (Erapi RotjiBlou) Blue Flag Cultural Association smacks of tribalism, Kamatuka said the idea is to promote unity among the clans at tribal level before gunning for the ‘One Namibia, One Nation’ goal.

“We cannot run away from the fact that we have many tribes in Namibia. But if we can get the unity right at tribal level, we will not fail once we go to the Namibian house,” he said.

The Erapi rotjiBlou (Blue Flag) Cultural Association is set to be launched on 26 November. The idea behind the establishment of the association was born in 2016 in a village called Okatjoruu.

According to Kamatuka, the association will adopt a developmental stance through which it will address the challenges currently faced by the community.

“It was more of an informal idea and it is only recently that we decided to formalise this institution. Basically, it will focus on the promotion of religion, arts, science, education, charity, recreation, as well as cultural and other social activities of the Ovaherero people,” Kamatuka said.

“Currently, there are three flags namely the Red, White and Green flag. This is a fourth flag which is a voluntary association, a civil society organisation, which is promoting the interest of our people as a collective.”

The association’s base will be in Windhoek, from where it will branch out to regions where the majority of Ovaherero people reside, he said.

He added that unlike the other flags, the Blue Flag will not have a chief as the supreme leader but a position known as ‘Authority of the Flag’.

“The latter will be assisted in the regions by commissioners, who will in turn be assisted by secretaries. We wanted to shy away from having positions like that of a general field marshal because where we want to take this movement, such a position will not serve our interest,” he said.

According to Kamatuka, the association’s constitution is yet to be adopted and this will be done after collective consultation with members. However, the name of the entity has already been approved by the relevant authority.

Approached for comment, historian Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro declined to dwell on the matter in the absence of more information pertaining to the proposed initiative and the reasons behind its establishment.

Social commentator Rirua Komeheke termed the establishment of the Blue Flag Association a plan that has no chance of being effective.
“Non-starter. Flags were started because of war. This is for what?” Komeheke said.