Ovaherero chieftaincy fight spills into court

Ovitoto constituency chief Vipuira Kapuuo filed papers yesterday through his lawyer Pieter Theron of PD Theron and Associates against Bethold Tjiunde and 56 other respondents.The legal suit comes after Kapuuo sent a letter of his intention to acting chief reverend Boas Tjingaete, chief Tjiundje, Tjizapouzeu Uahupirapi and chief designate Mutjinde Katjiua last week.Katjiua is the chief designate, while Tjingaete is the acting chief of the authority.Katjiua and Tjingaete were appointed in December at Onderombapa in the Aminuis constituency.Katjiua expects to be confirmed this weekend and to eventually acquire full rights to the throne left by the late paramount chief Vekuii Rukoro.Kapuuo through his lawyers had declared the meeting that took place in December as unlawful, and demanded that the senate slated for the weekend be stopped.In the court documents, Kapuuo declared that in terms of Ovaherero customary law, tradition, and protocol, the chairman of the chief's council becomes the acting paramount chief of the Ovaherero traditional community upon the death or incapacitation of the paramount chief.“The applicant, being the chairman of the chief's council, is declared to be the acting paramount chief of the Ovaherero traditional community in terms of the Ovaherero customary law, tradition, and protocol,” the document read."The purported chief's council meeting, not called by the chairman of the chief's council, and held on ‪10-12‬ December 2021 at Onderombapa, Aminius, and any decisions taken at that meeting, are hereby reviewed and set aside or alternatively is declared to be null and void," the document reads. Kapuuo said that the meeting was not properly constituted, not properly led, had no quorum and consequently made decisions that it had no authority to make.Following the December meeting, a senate meeting scheduled for this weekend was declared null and void, according to Kapuuo.“It is hereby declared that in terms of Ovaherero customary law, tradition, and protocol, a senate meeting must be called by decision taken at a properly called and constituted chief's council meeting,” the court documents further read.Moreover, the document states that the first to sixth respondents together with those who oppose the application and the relief sought, shall pay the applicant's costs jointly and severally. The hearing is set for 8 April this year.