{"id":101476,"date":"2026-04-27T14:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion"},"modified":"2026-04-27T15:07:55","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T15:07:55","slug":"authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion","title":{"rendered":"Authorities Without Chiefs Decry Exclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Auleria Wakudumo<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Traditional authorities without recognised chiefs say they were excluded from a workshop on amending the Traditional Authorities Act held in Otjiwarongo last week.<\/p>\n<p>These authorities claim they were not invited because they have no recognised chiefs.<\/p>\n<p>They have raised concerns about fairness and inclusion in a process that affects all traditional authorities in Namibia.<\/p>\n<p>Advisor of the Daure Daman Traditional Authority, Klemens \/Awarab, said the decision was unfair.<\/p>\n<p>He said the authority participated in a similar engagement in 2023. At the time, their chief attended and contributed to discussions on the same matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow that we do not have a chief, we are excluded from final decisions on issues we previously contributed to. It is not fair. All traditional authorities should be included, whether they have a chief or not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that several traditional authorities in southern Namibia are currently without chiefs. As a result, many may have missed the workshop and key discussions.<\/p>\n<p>Senior councillor of the Hai\/\/om Traditional Authority, Johannes Haneb, also expressed similar concerns.<\/p>\n<p>He said he only learned about the workshop after it had already taken place. He stated that he personally contacted the ministry but was told they were not part of the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am wondering what was discussed, whether it will affect us and why we were excluded,\u201d said the traditional leader.<\/p>\n<p>Haneb stressed that amendments to the Act are important to all traditional authorities. He said exclusion from such discussions creates uncertainty.<\/p>\n<p>The issue is especially sensitive for the Hai\/\/om community. The group has long standing concerns over ancestral land, particularly in Etosha National Park.<\/p>\n<p>The Hai\/\/om community expressed that they were displaced from the area during the establishment of the park. They are now seeking recognition of their ancestral land rights.<\/p>\n<p>The matter is currently before the High Court. The outcome could have broader implications for land rights and recognition of traditional authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Haneb said that discussions on amending the Act could directly affect their case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are dealing with our ancestral land issue in Etosha. If such matters were discussed, then we should have been part of the meeting,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n<p>Traditional leaders argue that excluding certain authorities risks leaving out key voices. They say the amendment process should be inclusive and transparent.<\/p>\n<p>The spokesperson for the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development, Mbatjavi Kahuure, said that the ministry invited only gazetted traditional authorities to the event. Kahuure made it clear that those not gazetted are not yet recognised. Thus, no invitation was extended to them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Namibia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. Auleria Wakudumo Traditional authorities without recognised chiefs say they were excluded from a workshop on amending the Traditional Authorities Act held in Otjiwarongo last week. These authorities claim they were not invited because they have no recognised chiefs. They have raised concerns about fairness and inclusion in a process that affects all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":101474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-101476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Authorities Without Chiefs Decry Exclusion - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Auleria Wakudumo Traditional authorities without recognised chiefs say they were excluded from a workshop on ame ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Authorities Without Chiefs Decry Exclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Auleria Wakudumo Traditional authorities without recognised chiefs say they were excluded from a workshop on ame ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-27T14:37:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-27T15:07:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1777289672.66341.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"773\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Authorities Without Chiefs Decry Exclusion\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-27T14:37:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-27T15:07:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1777289672.66341.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/authorities-without-chiefs-decry-exclusion\",\"name\":\"Authorities Without Chiefs Decry Exclusion - 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