THE Mbanderu group supporting Keharanjo II Nguvauva in the community's leadership succession dispute has sharply criticised a rival group, which had called on President Hifikepunye Pohamba to intervene in the matter.

"The public statement of Cecil Nguvauva of the Ovambanderu Youth League made earlier this week calling on the Head of State to intervene in the matter is just another tactic move," said Kaitira Kandjii yesterday.

Kandjii is the spokesperson for the Mbanderu group supporting Keharanjo II Nguvauva, the younger son of the late Chief Munjuku II Nguvauva. Deputy Fisheries Minister Kilus Nguvauva, an older half-brother of Keharanjo, also claims to be the rightful heir to the throne.

"It was the Kilus support group which declared a dispute in the matter and requested the Minister of Local and Regional Government to appoint a commission of inquiry to find a solution. The Kilus group rejected the findings of the commission, which recommended that Keharanjo should be appointed as the new Mbanderu Chief," Kandjii said in a statement.

The commission concluded at the end of last year that in the Mbanderu culture the oldest male child born in wedlock was superior in rank to the oldest male child born out of wedlock. Kilus Nguvauva was born out of wedlock.

Local and Regional Government Minister Jerry Ekandjo informed the lawyers of both Keharanjo II and Kilus just before Christmas last year that these customary laws were confirmed by elderly people interviewed by his investigation committee.

"The committee confirmed this custom during their engagement with the two groups during the investigation. The confirmation of such customs within Ovambanderu succession is overwhelming," Ekandjo wrote to the two groups.

In a letter of February 23 2010 to Minister Ekandjo, the lawyers of Kilus Nguvauva complained that in their view the members of the committee spoke to people who are "not part of the Mbanderu community" and that some dates with regard to the history of the community "had been incorrectly cited".

"We request that your office provides us with the minutes of those meetings as these issues have materially affected the findings of he committee," the law office Lorentz, Angula Inc. wrote in the letter, which was seen by The Namibian.

On Tuesday, the lawyers of Keharanjo II Nguvauva also sent Ekandjo a letter, reminding him of the Traditional Authorities Act of 2000, which stipulates in Section 12(3) that "the Minister shall on receipt of the report take such decision as he may deem expedient for the resolutions of the dispute."

Since Ekandjo had decided to follow the recommendations of the committee, the Weder, Kauta and Hoveka law firm wrote, "you are now respectfully and legally obliged to act in accordance with the Act. We hold instructions to humbly request that you do so within the next two weeks, failing which we would have no alternative but to approach the High Court for a 'mandamus' [order] at your costs".

The Latin word 'mandamus' means a court order to make a person comply with a law.

The late Chief Munjuku II died two years ago. The split in the Ovambanderu community has run deep for over a decade and was even brought before the Supreme Court as the faction under Senior Traditional Councillor Erastus Kahuure, who supports Keharanjo as the new chief, opposed a new tribal constitution, which allegedly imposed many changes on the community without consultation.

It is said that opponents of Kahuure advised the sickly Chief Munjuku to expel Kahuure and 10 other senior traditional councillors.

They won a High Court victory about three years ago when the judge ruled they should be reinstated.

The Ovambanderu Traditional Authority (under Munjuku) appealed against the ruling. The Supreme Court ruled that the dismissal of the 11 councillors was wrong, but dismissed the High Court ruling about the new tribal constitution, which the High Court found was not acceptable.

The Supreme Court ruled that the new constitution was acceptable.

The death of the Chief deepened the split and gave it a new dimension.