Staff Reporter
HIGH Court Judge Thomas Masuku today ruled in favour of the Uukwambi Traditional Authority, which had instituted court proceedings against royal family member representatives Wellem Amwaama and Seblon Shivolo, ordering them to stop holding a commemoration ceremony for their departed kings.
The Uukwambi Traditional Authority (UTA) approached the court seeking an interdict to prevent the respondents from hosting an event scheduled for 17 August 2024.
The applicants argued that Amwaama and Shivolo’s actions were in direct contravention of Section 3 of the Act, which grants the Uukwambi Traditional Authority the exclusive right to organise and oversee traditional ceremonies within its jurisdiction.
The respondents, despite being aware of the UTA’s authority and the decision to hold a commemorative event on a different date, proceeded to organise their own event without approval, thereby undermining the UTA’s authority. The court was asked to intervene to stop the event, which the applicants argued would not only violate the Act but also disrupt peace and unity within the traditional community.
“The evidence demonstrates that the second applicant, as Chief and representative of the Uukwambi Traditional Authority (UTA), exercises legitimate authority over the respondents and the area in question. The respondents’ decision to organise an event on 15 August 2024, despite prior discussions and decisions made by the UTA, is seen as an act intended to undermine the authority of the UTA. The court determines that the respondents’ actions were not only unauthorised but also in direct defiance of the UTA’s established authority. Consequently, the relief sought by the applicants is granted, and the respondents are interdicted from proceeding with the event as planned. The respondents are hereby interdicted and restrained from declaring 15 August, or any other day, as the day for the commemoration of the Uukwambi Chiefs. The respondents are interdicted and restrained from holding the ‘commemoration of the kings of Uukwambi’ event scheduled to take place on 16-17 August 2024 at Okashana ka Abed Kandongo, Elim, Oshikuku district,” Masuku said in his judgment.
The Uukwambi Traditional Authority, among other initiatives, plans to unveil a tombstone to be erected in honour of the late Chief Iipumbu yaShilongo, who died on 9 September 1932. Further, the UTA is in the process of constructing a monument in honour of the late Chief Iipumbu yaShilongo, to be erected at Okakalawa, Onatjiku, Elim, Uukwambi. In that regard, the UTA has projected and approved that these celebrations will be conducted on 9 September 2025.
Iipumbu was celebrated by many as a symbol of Owambo’s resistance and defiance against European cultural influence, exercised through the establishment of mission stations and administrative outposts.
