Africa-Press – Namibia. High Court judge Thomas Masuku has reviewed and set aside former minister of urban and rural development Peya Mushelenga’s decision to designate Hendrik Ismael Witbooi as leader of the Witbooi Traditional Authority.
In a judgement delivered in the Windhoek High Court on Tuesday, Masuku set aside Mushelenga’s designation of Witbooi as traditional leader, or kaptein, of the Witbooi community in April and May 2019. The judge also set aside the president’s recognition of Witbooi as traditional leader in a proclamation published in August 2019.
A cousin and leadership rival of Witbooi, Salomon Josephat Witbooi, and four members of their community challenged Ismael Witbooi’s designation as chief in a case first filed at the court in June 2019.
Salomon Witbooi is a former Namibian high commissioner to Zambia. The two leadership rivals are both nephews of the late kaptein Hendrik Witbooi, who served as a Cabinet minister and as deputy prime minister of Namibia before his death in October 2009.
Ismael Witbooi was officially recognised as traditional leader after the Witbooi community’s previous acting kaptein, Christiaan Rooi, died in October 2015.
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