Africa-Press – Namibia. IN an unusual turn of events, the Bwabwata National Park has become the centre of a political civil war within Swapo ranks, with Swapo MP Tjikero Tweya and others attacking the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, as well as the Minister of Agriculture. The ongoing debate concerns the management of the Bwabwata National Park and community complaints about the lack of land for people while space for animals is prioritized within the park.
Members of Parliament discussed a report submitted by the Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs this week. The report follows a request from the Hambukushu Traditional Authority, asking lawmakers to revisit a Cabinet decision made in 1999, which prohibits communities in the Bwabwata National Park area from owning cattle. The traditional leaders also accuse the government of dividing the Hambukushu and Khwe communities, who have coexisted in the park for generations.
The report said that the committee found the Environment Minister was in the Hambukushu area when he officially opened an office at Bwabwata on August 31, 2019, but made no effort to meet with the Fumu despite their request. The report recommended that the Ministry of Environment halt the removal of cattle until engagements are held with the affected communities, as there is still no land allocated for them or recommendations on where they may go.
Expressing his frustrations on the matter, Swapo MP Tweya, a member of the committee that prepared the report, said the committee undertook three visits and the information is not fabricated. “First, they wrote a letter to President Pohamba about the management of Bwabwata. He referred to this longstanding issue, but the ministers ignored it. They wrote again directly to President Geingob, who said the same thing, but the ministers still ignored it. The communities, through the Traditional Authority of Fumu, wrote to the minister, who said he was too busy and requested they come to Windhoek. This was way back in 2015. The Minister of Environment was in the area but had the audacity not to engage with the community when opening an office there. This led to the petition sent to the Speaker of the National Assembly,” Tweya explained.
He added that the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism confirmed that the communities benefiting from Bwabwata are Mashi, Kyaramacan Association, Kwandu, and Mayuni, except for the Hambukushu who reside in this area.
Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Natalia ǀGoagoses, bemoaned the fact that it has taken eight years to resolve the issue and requested that timelines be set out for carrying out the recommendations of the report to ensure accountability of the responsible ministries.
“It is total disrespect and undermining of the existence of that community, which is governed by the Traditional Authorities Act. There is no act of Parliament superior to the other,” ǀGoagoses said.
Veiko Nekundi, Deputy Minister of Works and Transport, also contributed to the debate on the report and said it raises the question of fairness in allowing some citizens, and in this case an entire traditional authority, to cry out to be heard. “We all come from traditional authorities. For over seven years, they have cried to us, but they were not given an ear. I feel bad that they cried to us for seven years and we were just quiet,” Nekundi said.
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