Staff Reporter
JOSHUA Seibeb, the deregistered and degazetted Chief of the Tsoaxudaman clan, has taken the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, James Sankwasa, to court, challenging his removal and stating that the move was done unlawfully.
Seibeb was removed as Chief in September 2025 after failing to implement a 2022 agreement concerning the appointment of senior and traditional councillors. The Tsoaxudaman Traditional Authority dispute dates back to a long-standing leadership conflict prior to Seibeb’s official recognition as successor to the late Chief Bethuel Haraseb.
A member of the clan, Salathiel Karugab, had opined that he was the rightful claimant to the chieftainship after Haraseb’s death. Karugab opposed Seibeb’s application for chief, and the line ministry intervened just before Seibeb’s inauguration in 2022. The intervention resulted in a compromise whereby Karugab and his faction agreed that at least four members from their group be appointed to serve as Seibeb’s councillors in the interest of the community.
In a founding affidavit following his removal, Seibeb said that on or about 22 October 2021, following the death of the previous Chief of the Tsoaxudaman Traditional Authority, the late Bethuel Haraseb, in 2018, and following the due process of designation and election by the Tsoaxudaman Traditional Council, he had been designated as the successor to his predecessor to become Chief of the Tsoaxudaman Traditional Authority.
Seibeb said that this was confirmed by the former Minister of Urban and Rural Development and had been approved based on the outcome of a meeting held on 8 October 2021 with community representatives of Otjimbingwe and representatives of the Traditional Authority.
“This was later further confirmed by a letter dated 27 October 2022 received from the predecessor of the First Respondent, Honourable Erastus Uutoni, in which letter he had indicated that the Tsoaxudaman Traditional Authority should proceed with the designation of myself as the Chief of the Tsoaxudaman Traditional Authority in succession to the late Chief Bethuel Haraseb,” Seibeb said.
He added that the process of his removal had been initiated without Sankwasa affording him a fair hearing in terms of Article 18 of the Constitution of Namibia, which enshrines and guarantees lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair administrative action.
“I have not, nor have I ever been, informed of any allegations or reasons for my removal as Chief, and I was similarly not afforded a fair hearing to address any contention regarding my removal as Chief. I wish to submit that, in accordance with the abovementioned deregistration, I had not been afforded my right to fair administrative justice. I further submit that Sankwasa’s action and decision to remove me as Chief arbitrarily is procedurally defective, unlawful and invalid, thereby rendering my removal as Chief null and void ab initio,” Seibeb said.
Photo: Contributed
