Vaalgras Senior Traditional Councillor, Susanna Fredericks has said the process of replacing the late chief Joel Stephanus will only start next year.
Stephanus, who was the chief of the Vaalgras Traditional Authority since 1975, succumbed to COVID-19 complications in July this year at the age of 77.
The traditional authority then chose senior traditional councillor Martin Biwa as acting chief.
According to Fredericks the process of replacing the late chief will be carried out according to traditional authority customary law, meaning someone from the late chief’s bloodline will replace him.
“Someone from his bloodline should take on the place of chief. You have seen over the years when it comes to the replacing of chiefs there are always fights and disagreements on who should take over, but as a traditional authority we will ensure that this transition is smooth and we will definitely involve the community so that everyone is on the same page and we all agree on the person to replace the chief,” she said.
She said the traditional authority will also replace Willem Konjore, William Louw and Regina April – the three councillors who died earlier this year.
“With the replacement of the senior councillors, elections should take place as the community members will have to elect new councillors and that will also happen next year. The traditional authority would really like to thank the community of Vaalgras for their cooperation in these hard times. They keep on supporting us even though the chief is gone,” added Fredericks.
The senior councillor further raised concern about the abuse of alcohol and drugs by the youth and stock theft that has been on the increase around the area of Vaalgrass.
“This has really become a big issue, many people in this area are unemployed and they turn to crime. They could instead start backyard gardens, but that is hard because we do not have a lot of water here, we struggle with the borehole maintenance, sometimes it stops working and it takes long for the rural water supply division to come and fix it,” she said.
Vaalgras is located some 60 kilometres north0east of Keetmanshoop and has an estimated population of 3 500 people.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
