Uis tensions flare after community bombs chief’s house
Erongo police commander commissioner Nikolaus Kupembona has condemned community violence after a petrol bomb attack linked to tensions over the Dâure Daman Traditional Authority.
The Uis community was yesterday enraged by the reopening of the Dâure Daman Traditional Authority office at the settlement after weeks of protesting the leaders’ alleged mismanagment of funds at their expense.
This led to the house of Dâure Daman chief Sagarias Seibeb (68) being the target of a petrol bomb yesterday.
The incident saw several people arrested, including community activist Jimmy //Areseb and a pensioner, Kupembona confirmed yesterday.
Parts of the building have been damaged by the fire, but the full extent of the damage is still being assessed.
The suspects, aged 29, 37, 47, and 71, are facing charges of arson, contravening the Explosives Act, the possession and supply of explosives, and violating bail conditions.
Kupembona, however, said only one person has been charged over the petrol bombing and will appear in the Omaruru Magistrate’s Court today.
He said police investigations revealed that not all those implicated were involved in the incident and were, therefore, released.
The suspect reportedly used beer bottles filled with petrol and cloth to create firebombs, which were allegedly thrown onto the roof and into Seibeb’s home.
RISING TENSIONS
The aggrieved group’s spokesperson, Cornelia Atjiwara, yesterday said community members are enraged as the chief and other traditional authority leaders are allegedly benefiting from deals made with Chinese nationals involving the area’s natural resources, while the community is languishing in poverty.
Dâure Daman Traditional Authority spokesperson Martin Matsuib says the dispute has been ongoing for some time.
“The group that did this called themselves the ‘concerned group’, and for a while they have been spreading fake news about the traditional authority.
“They have been wanting to depose the chief since 2014,” he says.
Matsuib says the group has been making serious allegations about the authority, including corruption and selling land.
“We do not fire chiefs. We only gazette the chiefs on recommendation of the community and the customary laws of the traditional authorities,” he adds.
In January, the protesting community members took charge of the traditional office by placing their own lock on the gates and taking the office’s keys from Seibeb’s daughter.
Matsuib says community members last year ‘installed’ a shadow chief, Issy Tourob, as the incumbent once Seibeb is removed.
“They spread misinformation among the community alleging they have documentation proving Seibeb was receiving money from Xingfeng Mining Company, and that there was corruption and mismanagement, which was inside the office.
“Because of that they identified an incumbent in Tourob, who is currently the acting chief, identifying himself as such even at funerals, and using the letterhead of the traditional affairs office,” Matsuib says.
He says when the police came to reopen the office on Wednesday, this upset those in Tourob’s camp.
The Dâure Daman Traditional Authority office premises are subject to a High Court order prohibiting entry by unauthorised persons.
“The police found the gate locked and asked who the owner of the lock was and the key, so when no one surfaced they cut the lock open and proceeded to open the office doors.
“This is something the protestors never believed would happen, and thus they started squabbling with the police until they were removed.”
Senior councillor Ippin !Naruseb yesterday said the police explained the process as there were mostly elderly people.
“But some were refusing to vacate. Then there was a back and forth pushing between the police and the people as the protestors wanted to enter the office by force. So they were tear-gassed and started leaving,” he said.
The senior councillor said the chairperson of the concerned community, //Areseb, was not at the office during the reopening, but that they saw some of his followers running towards Seibeb’s house.
//Areseb was arrested in January when protestors stormed the traditional authority’s offices, and is currently on bail.
One of his bail conditions is that he steers clear of the authority’s offices.
“//Areseb’s house is three houses from the chief’s house. We do not know if the people called each other or what happened. The next thing we saw was Jimmy throwing the petrol bomb and flames going up at the chief’s house.
“And then the police went there,” said !Naruseb.
Meanwhile, Kupembona denied reports that any violence erupted in the process of removing protestors.
“It must be made very clear: The police did not assault any person, old or young. Those who claim they were assaulted or those who carry the reports that the police assaulted people must produce the proof of these assaults,” he said.
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