Members of the |Khomanin community have voted in favour of removing Gaos Juliane Gawa-!Nas and her council from the office.
The preliminary results from that election indicated that 634 out of 707 votes were elected for the removal of Gaos Gawa-!Nas and her council.
The elections were held over the weekend.
Social activist and a member of the steering committee Shaun Gariseb says the elections emanated from resolutions that were taken in January by the |Khomanin community aimed at determining whether the community still has confidence in the current leadership.
"We, the steering committee, started this process, and in the process you would have seen we also had a demonstration – not a demonstration but a notification on the 13th of last month where we went to inform the chief that on the 16th we are going to have this process. This process is only going to deal with your removal, and it's in accordance with the customary law of the |Khomanin people, as well as the Traditional Authorities Act, as well as the Damara Supreme Law and the Constitution of Namibia. As we speak, there are about 23 violations that the chief is making, and it's against those violations that we are doing this."
The vote follows months of growing dissatisfaction within the community over the leadership of the traditional authority.
The community has accused Gawa-!Nas of abusing her powers, selling land illegally and misusing community funds.
"It's not a community that is divided in two. It's the community here and the leadership, because the chief has not been working in the interest of the community, because land has been sold, donations have not been communicated, and meat donations have not been pronounced."
Gariseb also explained that the election process was not illegal.
"There is no way this process is illegal. The only person that can make a determination is the minister, Hon. James Sankwasa, when we provide the report to him, and only then can we, if we are unhappy, appeal, or they, if they are unhappy, appeal. But at this stage, nobody can determine, not even the court. Because only a community can remove their chief. That's what the traditional authority acts say, and that is also what our customary law says. And we have consulted; we have undertaken from traditional counsellors within the traditional authority that are on our side, in writing. So that is the background against which this process is done."
As per the results, 634 people voted in favour of removing the chief and her committee, while 69 members voted for them to remain in power and four spoilt votes.
"After the process is done, we do not have an alternative chief. There is nobody available from us. That will come from the community after the chief is degazetted. So the chief must first be degazetted, and then there must be a vacant post, and while there is an acting person, in 21 days we get an acting person. The community decides, and then only can we talk about a substantial chief. So this process will take us two years to get a new chief."
He noted that the special voting process will be held over a period of three weeks, as it has to be extended to other |Khomanin communities such as Nauspoort and Baumsgartbrunn.