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Your Community NEWSPAPER • 14 November 2013 - 20 November 2013 • Edition #409
www.informante.web.na • 061-275 4102 / 4363 • Find us on
Royal stone sparks tension
ARTEFACT CONTROVERSY: Picture in the middle, President Pohamba and his delegation receiving the royal stone in Helsinki. On the left, Chief Oswin Mukulu, and on the right Abisai Heita, the designated
King of Ombalanhu.
Photo: William J. Mbangula
William J. Mbangula
THE Ombalanhu clan in the
North is waiting for the return
of President Pohamba from Helsinki, Finland, after he took custody of one of the crucial stones
in the Ombalanhu Royal Family, from the Helsinki Mission
Church’s museum yesterday.
The historic return of the stone
could set the stage as the beginning of the contest for the legitimate heir to the Ombalanhu Kingdom, which was in dispute since
the death of King Kamhaku ka
Huhwa around 1836. Ka Huhwa
was burned alive in his hut by his
subjects, led by his nephew Ainyaela, due to his cruelty.
The solemn occasion in Helsinki was preceded by a letter of
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warning from a member of the
Ovambalanhu royal family and
self-proclaimed designated King,
Abisai Heita, to the Helsinki mission museum this week, in which
he warns that the stone should be
returned to the Ombalanhu Royal
Family and not be given to the traditional authority. Heita’s claim to
the throne is disputed by the chief
of Ombalanhu Traditional Authority, Oswin Mukulu. Mukulu
was elected as chief by popular
vote, which King Heita rejects as
not in line with the royal bloodline
custom of succession.
The Finish mission museum
handed the stone in the care of
President Pohamba, who is now
the custodian of a royal artifact
that is marred by controversy,
while he’s only expected back
in the country at the end of the
month. The stone, that is key to
the unification of the Ovambalanhu clan and restoration of their
kingdom, threatens to create more
division within the clan, even before Pohamba took possession of
it during a solemn church ceremony in Helsinki.
The last king of Ombalanhu,
Avula yAlweendo, went missing while on a mission to sign a
protection treaty at Outjo with the
Germans between 1914 and 1915.
Heita has accused some traditional leaders, and church and
high-ranking government officials
of underhand activities regarding
the alleged unauthorised removal
of the ritual stone from the mission museum in Finland.
He’s aggrieved by the fact that,
despite being the designated King
of Ombalanhu, he has not been
consulted on the matter by President Pohamba‘s delegation which
left for Finland this week on his
three-week long tour to several
countries. As a result, Heita wrote
a protest letter to the curator of the
mission museum in Finland, requesting them not to hand over the
stone to Chief Oswin Mukulu of
Ombalanhu Traditional Authority.
“As a designated King, I am responsible for the safekeeping of
the ritual and kingdom artefacts in
my palace. The royal family and I
will hold you responsible should
this and other objects of art in your
museum get lost or not returned to
the rightful owners, namely the
royal family,” Heita wrote.
He accused Mukulu of refus-
14.99
ing to recommend his recognition to the government, claiming
that Chief Mukulu is not from the
royal family.
The 26cm-wide stone at the
centre of the storm is said to have
been given to missionary Heikki
Saari in 1932 by Evangelist Andreas Ndimunhu as a gift, without
the consent of the royal family. It
was used for several important traditional rituals, including puberty
rites of boys and sharpening of
war spears, and it is normally kept
by trusted royal family members,
together with another stone currently in the hands of Ombalanhu
royal family.
Heita was designated King of
Ombalanhu on 17 May 2008, a
day after the death of his predecessor Kristof Aitula Mulamba.
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