Ruaridh Nicoll in Mutjiku, Western Caprivi, Namibia
THE Kxoe, an 8 000-strong section of Southern Africa’s Bushman community, are being squeezed out of their lands in Namibia’s Caprivi Strip by the regal aspirations of a neighbouring tribal leader.
Erwin Mbambo, chief of the Mbukushu people, has given land belonging to the Kxoe to the Namibian government so it can expand on a prison-rehabilitation complex. The move, which enjoys government backing, will destroy a tourist camp built to benefit the Kxoe.
Mbambo is sending his people to Kxoe land in an effort to force the government to de- proclaim the game park that runs along much of the Caprivi Strip, and therefore spread his power. “I have been encouraging my people across the river so that they can look for their survival,” he said.
Young chief of the Kxoe, Kipi George, is finding himself ever more powerless in the face of Mbambo.
“Our forefathers were enslaved by the Mbukushu, and Mbambo still wants it that way,” said Thaddeus Chedau, senior counsellor to George. “We think that maybe we should do something as the government doesn’t.”
Mbambo, who claims that the colonial powers downgraded his office from king to mere tribal chief, refuses to tolerate the Kxoe’s claims to land.
He took a swipe at a group of German linguists studying the Kxoe language in the area by accusing them of trying to annex his land.
Mbambo fought with Swapo during Namibia’s liberation struggle. The Kxoe, meanwhile, spent much of the war acting as trackers for South Africa’s infantry units. The war turned much of the Caprivi Strip into a vast military camp for anti-Swapo forces.
In a press conference last week to promote the expansion of the centre, Minister of Prisons Marco Hausikucalled George a “headman” and confirmed the government’s intention to promote Mbambo as the area’s chief.
This contradicts the government’s Traditional Authorities Act which says: “Every traditional community may be entitled to have a traditional authority comprising of [among other things] one chief.”
A senior civil servant in the ministry who fought with Mbambo went to great efforts to impress the point on journalists that George had murdered many Swapo fighters.
Chedau laughed at the claim. “He was never in the army,” he said. “We elected him from school in 1987.”
The Kxoe community first heard of the expansion when two prison officers went to the camp three weeks ago and told the two women running it that they were on land given to the Ministry of Prisons by Mbambo.
George and three of his advisers drove to Windhoek to see government officials in other ministries. “The ministers said they would do something but nothing happened,” said Chedau.
The reality was that the people the Kxoe delegation had seen convened a meeting with Hausiku.
“The meeting resolved that if there is an honest plan to create a financially viable community project, an alternative plot will be allocated,” said Hausiku, confirming that the decision had been made: the camp was to go.
The government owns the communal land in the north of Namibia and therefore calls the shots, but Mbambo refuses to admit this to his people.
At the inauguration of the centre last year, the self-styled king made a great show of offering a large chunk of land, of which the Kxoe campsite is a part, to President Sam Nujoma.
As a result there is little doubt that Mbambo not only has friends in the government, but has extended his power at the expense of the Kxoe.
“The Kxoe have been here forever and if this is not their land then there is no land for the Kxoe,” said Dr Matthias Brenzinger, one of the German linguists.