Hai//Om San community resolve to support ancestral land restitution

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Hai//Om San traditional leaders at their annual community conference at Otjiwarongo on Sunday resolved to fully support talks and campaigns related to any ancestral land restitution in the country.

More than 30 traditional leaders from the Hai//Om San areas of Outjo, Tsumeb, Otavi and Grootfontein had gathered on Saturday and Sunday at Otjiwarongo for the conference.

At the end, the conference formulated 10 resolutions on ancestral land related matters.

The community members that attended are those from the traditional leaderships of the Kai!Khoen, #Haub, and Gogara Hai//Om San traditional authorities.

The conference first established and endorsed a Hai//Om San burning issues movement or association that would aim to unite all the Hai//Om San community members through their different traditional authorities.

Several traditional leaders in attendance, endorsed the new movement and agreed that it should become a legitimate advocacy association for this marginalised group.

The conference elected Leon /Aib as the chairperson of the movement.

/Aib and the interim members were tasked amongst others to work across with all Hai//Om San tribal groups and clans.

“The conference further resolved that this Hai//Om San burning issues movement should draw its membership from all the sub-clans within the Hai//Om San communities,” said /Aib.

It was also resolved that the association should extensively do research and document the findings on the seven sub-clans which exist so far within the Hai//Om San communities, as well as their historical backgrounds, previous and current geographical locations.

The conference agreed that the interim members of the association should meet on 03 to 05 June this year in Otjiwarongo to draft the operational constitution of the movement, said /Aib.

“The Hai//Om San burning issues movement has a big task and that would largely be to assist all the unrecognised traditional leaders and chiefs of our Hai//Om San sub-clans to become recognised by the government,” /Aib said on Monday in an interview with Nampa.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency