Meanwhile, the |Khomanin Traditional Authority described the vote of no confidence elections against Gaos Juliane Gawa-!Nas and her council as illegal.

The traditional authority argues that the community members in question did not follow the right procedures for the elections.

"So what does the act say in terms of the removal of the chief? It says the chief can be removed if there is a sufficient reason under article 8. It's saying the chief can be removed if there is a sufficient reason subject to the provisions of the customary law. Now, what does the customary law say? The customary law with regard to the removal of the chief is stating clearly that the position of the chief is for life and, secondly, the chief can only be removed by the traditional authority, not the community."

He explained that according to the Traditional Authorities Act, if a community member or group attempts to replace the recognised traditional authority that has been established in terms of the act, whatever decisions they take will be null and void.

"In terms of the decisions that they have taken, do they have locus standi? Do they have a sufficient reason to do that? First, they have to be members; the act is clearly defining that through its members. Now, technically speaking, the members that were there are not registered members, and I'm going to underscore 'registered'; they're not registered members. I'm not saying they are not |Khomanin. I'm saying registered members of the |Khomanin Traditional Authority; hence, they do not have any locus standi in the affairs of the traditional authority."

Regarding the accusations made against Gaos Gawa-!Nas on the illegal land sales to other tribes and mismanagement of funds, the traditional authority had this to say.

"We are Namibians, and Namibians, we have to accommodate other Namibians who are in our areas of jurisdiction because, simply, at one stage there were intermarriages from different groups, and in the absence of the intermarriages, we are from the one-nation statement."

"Now, as far as the financial irregularities are concerned, we are putting it again on the record that on a quarterly basis, we are receiving N$ 3,000 from the government for the fuel purposes. That is the only allocation that we are receiving from the central government. They want us to have an audited financial statement. From the N$12,000, we must prepare an audited financial statement, and who is going to pay the auditors? Then it will be us that will be incurring unauthorised expenditure."